THE   GHOSTS 
OF    BIGOTRY 


PETER  C.  YORKE 


:ARY   A 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 

^ - 


% 


THE  GHOSTS 
OF    BIGOTRY 


SIX   LECTURES   BY 

REV.  P.  C.  YORKE,  D.  D. 


Second  Edition 


SAN  FRANCISCO: 

THE  TEXT  BOOK  PUBLISHING  CO. 

641   STEVENSON  STREET 

1913 


Imprimatur 

j%  PATKITTUS  G.  RIORDAN,  D.  D. 

Archiepiscopus    Sti.   Francisci 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1913 

By  P.  C.  YORKE 
In  the  office  of  Librarian  of  Congress.  Washington,  D.  C. 


CONTENTS. 


Lecture  Page 

L— Ghosts  in  General  ....      7 
II. — The  Gunpowder  Plot   ...    55 

III.— The  Popish  Plot 120 

IV.— The  Gordon  Riots    .    .    .    .169 
V. — The    Ecclesiastical    Titles 

Bill 219 

VI.— Anti  -  Catholic    Movements 

in  North  America    .    .    .271 


PREFACE. 


«5 


THE  following  lectures  are  an  at- 
tempt to  give  in  popular  form  the 
main  features  of  the  treatment  meted 
out  to  the  Catholic  Church  in  England 
and  America  by  English  Protestantism. 
They  were  written  after  a  four  years'  cam- 
paign against  the  A.  P.  A.  in  California 
had  ended  in  the  break-up  and  disappear- 
ance of  that  organization.  The  Catholic 
Truth  Society  of  San  Francisco  published 
them  in  pamphlet  form  under  the  title 
"Ghosts."  The  plates,  however,  were  de- 
stroyed in  the  fire  of  1906,  and,  as  there 
have  been  many  calls  for  them  since  that 
time,  they  are  now  reprinted  in  a  more 
permanent  form.  Experience  showed  that 
the  original  title  did  not  sufficiently  indi- 
cate their  scope,  so  they  are  renamed  "The 
Ghosts  of  Bigotry." 

Oakland,  Cal. 

St.  Matthew's  Day,  IQI2. 


THE  GHOSTS  OF 
BIGOTRY 

I.-GHOSTS  IN  GENERAL. 

WITH  this  series  of  lectures  we 
inaugurate  the  work  of  a  Catholic 
Truth  Society.  A  Catholic  Truth 
Society  is  an  organized  effort  to  spread  the 
truth  concerning  the  Catholic  Church, 
both  among  Catholics  and  non-Catholics. 
It  is  in  religion  what  in  politics  is  called 
"a  campaign  of  education."  We  Catholics 
believe  we  have  the  truth.  We  believe  we 
have  those  teachings  which  God  deemed 
best  for  the  instruction  of  mankind.  We 
believe  we  have  those  doctrines,  to  teach 
which  He  sent  His  only  Son  from  heaven. 
We  believe,  therefore,  we  possess  that  truth 
which  is  necessary  for  humanity  and  is 
able  to  satisfy  all  the  needs  of  humanity. 
If  our  belief  is  real,  we  must  wish  to 
spread  this  truth.     If  we  love  our  kind,  if 


The  Preaching  Office  of  the  Church. 

we  wish  them  well,  if  we  would  give  them 
comfort,  hope,  peace,  we  must  burn  with 
the  desire  to  tell  them  the  good  tidings 
which  alone  can  satisfy  their  souls. 

For  this  purpose  was  the  Church  estab- 
lished, and  with  the  commission,  "Preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  she  has  gone 
up  and  down  the  world.  This  is  not  the 
place  to  speak  of  her  unceasing  and  mani- 
fold activity.  She  preaches  from  her  pul- 
pits Sunday  after  Sunday.  Her  churches, 
day  by  day,  are  silent  invitations  to  the 
passers-by  to  lift  up  their  hearts.  She 
preaches  in  her  works  of  charity  and  benef- 
icence. She  preaches  in  the  lives  of  her 
members,  the  lives  of  the  thousands  of  sim- 
ple and  lowly  God-fearing  men  and 
women  who  bear  her  name;  in  the  lives 
of  her  sisters  and  priests  who  stand  fearless 
before  the  plague  or  the  yellow  fever  and 
go  down  to  death  rather  than  permit  a 
single  soul  to  appear  before  its  Maker 
without  the  healing  of  the  Sacraments  and 
the  strength  of  the  Body  of  Christ. 

In  those  ways,  and  in  a  thousand  others, 

8 


Her  Methods  Change  With  the  Times. 

the  Church  is  ever  preaching  the  Gospel. 
Since  her  Founder's  death  there  is  no  age 
which  has  not  rung  with  her  deeds;  there 
is  no  land  which  has  not  been  full  of  her 
labors.  You  may  ask,  therefore,  What  is 
the  need  of  this  new  crusade?  What  is  the 
need  of  this  organized  effort  to  spread 
Catholic  truth?  Are  not  the  ancient  ways 
sufficient?  Why  should  we  train  our  feet 
to  new  paths? 

Our  answer  is:  Our  crusade  is  no 
new  venture,  but  that  it  is  an  ancient 
method  adapted  to  modern  needs.  This 
world  of  ours  is  like  the  great  ocean — 
ever  in  a  state  of  change.  The  changes 
themselves,  it  is  true,  are  few,  but  they 
are  ever  returning  one  on  the  heels  of 
the  other.  The  tides  of  this  month  are 
like  the  tides  of  last  month.  The  storm  of 
a  week  ago  is  like  the  storms  of  years  gone 
by.  Wave  is  like  unto  wave,  and  calm  is 
indistinguishable  from  calm.  Yet  wave 
and  tide,  calm  and  storm  create  the  un- 
ceasing change  that  makes  the  ocean  the 
image  of  instability. 


The  Message  Is  Always  the  Same. 


It  is  even  so  among  men.  There  is 
nothing  new  under  the  sun,  said  the  wise 
man,  and  what  has  been,  the  same  shall  be. 
Political  changes,  commercial  changes, 
changes  of  opinion,  in  manners,  in  dress, 
all  have  a  small  orbit  and  are  constantly 
returning.  But  amidst  all  those  changes 
the  word  of  God  stands  unchanged  and  un- 
changeable. The  Church  which  has  the 
commission  of  preaching  remains  unmoved 
amidst  the  vicissitudes  of  times  and  things. 
In  that  she  shows  most  like  to  God.  Thou 
in  the  beginning,  O  Lord,  didst  found  the 
earth,  and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of  Thy 
hands.  They  shall  perish  but  Thou  shalt 
continue;  and  they  shall  all  grow  old  as 
a  garment,  and  as  a  vesture  shalt  Thou 
change  them  and  they  shall  be  changed. 
But  Thou  art  the  self  same  and  Thy  years 
shall  not  fail. 

But  though  the  unchanging  word  which 
the  unchanging  Church  preaches  to  the 
world  is  always  and  at  all  times  one,  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  presented  to  the 
ever-changing  peoples  must  be  manifold. 

10 


She  Preaches  One  Way  in  Catholic  Lands. 

The  Church  must  meet  man  on  his  own 
level  and  speak  to  him  in  a  language  which 
his  heart  can  understand.  If  he  will  not 
listen  to  the  truth  when  presented  to  him 
in  one  way,  the  Church  must  cast  about 
until  she  finds  a  way  which  will  be  accept- 
able. Her  methods,  therefore,  will  differ 
from  time  to  time  and  from  country  to 
country.  In  Catholic  lands,  and  among 
Catholic  peoples,  the  solemn  round  of 
praise  and  sacrifice  by  which  her  year  is 
sanctified  is  a  perpetual  instruction  for  her 
children.  They  grow  up  in  a  Catholic 
atmosphere,  and,  unconsciously,  as  they 
learn  their  mother  tongue  they  learn  their 
mother  religion.  The  pictured  saints  that 
look  down  upon  them  from  window  and 
niche  and  wall  in  their  churches  become 
their  teachers,  and  the  practices  of  private 
and  public  life  knit  into  their  bones  the 
faith  of  their  fathers. 

It  is  otherwise  in  countries  which  are 
not  Catholic.  There  everything  tends  to 
draw  them  away  from  the  Church,  and  to 
obscure  her  teaching.     Hence  she  cannot 

ii 


She  Uses  Other  Means  With  Non-Catholics. 

rest  content  with  what  we  may  call  the 
dead  weight  of  public  opinion,  for  public 
opinion  is  against  her;  she  cannot  rest 
content  with  the  mere  internal  force  of 
Catholic  life,  because  Catholic  life  is 
chilled  and  weakened  in  an  uncongenial 
clime.  Therefore,  she  must  return  to  her 
ancient  methods,  when  the  world  was  all 
before  her,  a  harvest  yet  unreaped.  She 
must  return  to  the  constant  and  uninter- 
rupted proclamation  of  her  mission.  She 
must  become  again  a  prophet  crying  in  the 
wilderness,  "Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
Lord."  She  must  become  again  a  witness 
going  out  to  all  the  people,  and  giving  tes- 
timony to  the  truth  as  revealed  by  Christ 
Jesus. 

Such  is  the  condition  of  the  Church  in 
this  country.  We  are  growing  great  in 
everything  which  makes  for  material 
power;  but  we  are  growing  weak  in  every- 
thing which  makes  for  moral  power.  If 
I  should  say  that  the  American  people  is 
an  irreligious  people  I  should  be  circulat- 
ing a  calumny.     If  I  should  say  that  the 

12 


She  Must  Preach  to  the  American  People. 

American  people  is  rapidly  becoming  a 
churchless  and  creedless  people  I  should 
be  saying  what  all  admit.  How  long  a 
churchless  and  a  creedless  people  can  re- 
main at  heart  a  religious  or  a  moral  people 
is  another  question.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
history  records  no  example  of  a  lasting 
case.  Either  truth  or  superstition,  in  some 
form,  must  prevail.  If  Moses  remains  too 
long  on  the  mountain  the  people  will  make 
them  the  golden  calf. 

Catholics  believe  that  they  have  the 
whole  truth  which  Christ  revealed.  They 
believe  that  the  American  people  needs 
this  truth,  for,  as  Archbishop  Spalding 
used  to  say,  "A  great  nation  needs  a  great 
religion."  The  question,  therefore,  which 
confronts  us  is,  How  is  the  American 
people  to  be  reached?  We  have  special 
facilities  in  our  favor,  we  have  special  dif- 
ficulties to  overcome.  To  take  advantage 
of  those  facilities,  to  provide  against  those 
difficulties,  is  the  Church's  task.  The  sit- 
uation is  novel;  it  is  not  new.  Like  the 
prudent  householder,  she  has  in  her  store 

13 


She  Must  Reach  Them  By  the  Old  Methods. 

new  things  and  old.  She  is  now  where 
she  was  in  the  third  century — face  to  face 
with  a  mighty  civilization  which  was 
hungry  for  God,  and  yet  distrusted  the 
messenger  of  God. 

In  those  days  the  Church  relied  on  the 
preaching  of  the  Word  of  Truth.  She  had 
then,  as  now,  the  same  Sacrifice,  the  same 
Sacraments,  but  she  hid  them  away  from 
the  gaze  of  the  pagans.  She  jealously  ex- 
cluded the  unbaptized  from  her  churches, 
for  her  rites  were  the  bread  that  the  chil- 
dren of  the  household  alone  might  share. 
But  if  the  unbeliever  might  not  come  to 
her,  she  went  to  the  unbeliever.  She 
preached  to  him  of  God  and  of  the  Christ 
and  of  the  necessity  of  a  revelation. 

The  same  must  be  our  plan  now.  For 
all  practical  purposes  we  might  as  well 
have  in  force  the  ancient  rule  which  al- 
lowed none  but  Catholics  to  enter  our 
churches  during  divine  service.  How  few 
they  are  who  come  from  among  our  sepa- 
rated brethren  to  see  for  themselves  and 
to  hear  what  we  have  to  say,  only  those 

14 


Because  We  Have  Again  the  Old  Conditions. 

know  who,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  look  on 
the  same  familiar  faces  in  the  pews. 
Therefore,  if  they  do  not  come  to  us  we 
must  go  to  them.  If  the  truth  of  God  is 
worth  anything,  it  is  at  least  worth  this 
trouble  from  those  who  value  it. 

Such  is  the  first  reason  for  a  Catholic 
Truth  Society.  The  world  has  changed, 
but  the  change  is  only  a  return  of  old  con- 
ditions. The  means  which  were  successful 
in  the  first  spring  shall  be  successful  in  the 
second  spring.  The  Church  is  the  same, 
the  truth  is  the  same — only  the  methods  of 
presenting  that  truth  are  altered  with  the 
times. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  salient  features 
of  the  organized  effort  to  spread  Catholic 
truth,  known  as  the  Catholic  Truth  So- 
ciety, is  that  it  is  an  organization  of  the 
laity.  In  Catholic  theology  the  task  of 
preaching  the  Gospel  was  laid  upon  the 
Apostle?,  and  by  the  Apostles  given  to  their 
successors.  St.  Paul  sums  up  the  teaching 
of  the  Church  in  the  pertinent  queries, 
"How  shall  they  call  on   Him   in  whom 


The  Mission  of  the  Catholic  Laity. 

they  have  not  believed?  Or,  how  shall  they 
believe  in  Him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard?  And  how  shall  they  hear  without 
a  preacher?  And  how  shall  they  preach 
unless  they  be  sent?"  Therefore,  the  Bish- 
ops, as  the  successors  of  the  Apostles,  in 
their  own  dioceses,  and  the  Pope,  as  the 
successor  of  the  chief  of  the  Apostles,  in 
the  whole  world,  are  the  divinely  ordained 
preachers  of  the  Gospel,  and  they  commit 
that  charge  to  those  whom  they  judge  fit. 
But  this  oversight  does  not  mean  that  there 
is  not  on  each  of  us  the  obligation  of 
making  our  religion  known.  It  means 
that  we  are  not  to  set  up  altar  against  altar, 
and  that  all  things  should  be  done  in 
seemly  fashion  and  with  one  mind.  Hence 
on  the  laity,  too,  rests  the  duty  of  giving 
a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  them.  And 
when  the  laity  are  organized,  as  in  this 
Catholic  Truth  Society,  by  the  Archbishop 
of  the  diocese,  who,  and  who  alone,  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  teaching  of  the  faith  pure 
and  undefiled,  there  is  no  break  with  the 


16 


Their  Opportunities  of  Spreading  the  Truth. 

traditions  of  the  Church,  nothing  opposed 
to  Catholic  habits  of  thought. 

As  I  have  said,  our  times  have  their 
own  advantages  and  their  own  draw- 
backs. It  is  to  make  use  of  one  of  those 
advantages  that  the  Catholic  Truth  So- 
ciety organized  the  Catholic  laity.  In 
this  country  men  of  all  creeds  meet  on 
the  common  basis  of  their  citizenship. 
In  the  ordinary  walks  of  life  Catholic 
and  non-Catholic  are  thrown  into  close 
contact.  They  discuss  every  question  in 
the  heavens  above,  in  the  earth  beneath  and 
in  the  waters  under  the  earth.  Not  the 
least  infrequent  of  those  discussions  is  on 
the  subject  of  religion.  Non-Catholics 
who  would  not  think  of  entering  a  Cath- 
olic church  or  of  speaking  to  a  Catholic 
priest  will  eagerly  question  the  Catholic 
laity  concerning  the  teaching  and  practices 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  Such  an  oppor- 
tunity should  not  be  lost.  If  any  one 
should  know  about  the  Catholic  Church 
surely  Catholics  should.  It  is  not  good 
taste    to   force    religious    subjects  into    a 

17 


How  Newman  Wished  the  Laity  to  Act. 

conversation,  but  it  is  not  good  policy  to 
be  silent  when  your  Church  is  under  dis- 
cussion. Nearly  fifty  years  ago,  in  a  time 
of  great  excitement  in  England  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Catholic  Church,  John  Henry 
Newman  wrote  words  which  are  true  of 
Catholics,  especially  in  these  times  and  in 
our  own  country.     He  said: 

There  is  a  time  for  silence,  and  a 
time  to  speak; -the  time  for  speaking 
is  come.  What  I  desiderate  in  Cath- 
olics is  the  gift  of  bringing  out  what 
their  religion  is;  it  is  one  of  those 
"better  gifts"  of  which  the  Apostle 
bids  you  be  "zealous."  You  must  not 
hide  your  talent  in  a  napkin,  or  your 
light  under  a  bushel.  I  want  a  laity 
not  arrogant,  not  rash  in  speech,  not 
disputatious,  but  men  who  know  their 
religion,  who  enter  into  it,  who  know 
just  where  they  stand;  who  know 
what  they  hold  and  what  they  do  not, 
who  know  their  creed  so  well  that 
they  can  give  an  account  of  it,  who 
know  so  much  of  history  that  they  can 
defend  it.  I  want  an  intelligent,  well- 
instructed  laity;  I  am  not  denying  that 

18 


The  Laity  the  Measure  of  Catholic  Spirit. 

you  are  such  already,  but  I  mean  to 
be  severe,  and,  as  some  say,  exorbi- 
tant in  my  demands;  I  wish  you  to 
enlarge  your  knowledge,  to  cultivate 
your  reason,  to  get  an  insight  into  the 
relation  of  truth  to  truth,  to  learn  to 
view  things  as  they  are,  to  understand 
how  faith  and  reason  stand  to  each 
other,  what  are  the  bases  and  prin- 
ciples of  Catholicism,  and  where  lie 
the  main  inconsistencies  and  absurd- 
ities of  the  Protestant  theory.  I  have 
no  apprehension  you  will  be  the  worse 
Catholics  for  familiarity  with  these 
subjects,  provided  you  cherish  a  vivid 
sense  of  God  above  and  keep  in  mind 
that  you  have  souls  to  be  saved.  In  all 
times  the  laity  have  been  the  measure 
of  the  Catholic  spirit — they  saved  the 
Irish  Church  three  centuries  ago,  and 
they  betrayed  the  Church  in  England. 
Our  rulers  were  true — our  people  were 
cowards.  You  ought  to  be  able  to 
bring  out  what  you  feel  and  what  you 
mean  as  well  as  to  feel  and  mean  it; 
to  expose  to  the  comprehension  of 
others  the  fictions  and  fallacies  of  your 
opponents,  and  to  explain  the  charges 
brought  against  the  Church,  to  the  sat- 

19 


His  Lesson  on  the  Need  of  Self-Reliance. 

isfaction,  not,  indeed,  of  bigots,  but  of 
men  of  sense  of  whatever  cast  of 
opinion.  And  one  immediate  effect  of 
your  being  able  to  do  all  this  will  be 
your  gaining  the  proper  confidence  in 
self,  which  is  so  necessary  for  you. 
You  will  then  not  have  the  temptation 
to  rely  on  others,  to  court  political 
parties  or  particular  men;  they  will 
rather  have  to  court  you.  You  will 
no  longer  be  dispirited  or  irritated  (if 
such  is  at  present  the  case)  at  finding 
difficulties  in  your  way,  of  being  called 
names,  in  not  being  believed,  in  being 
treated  with  injustice.  You  will  fall 
back  upon  yourselves;  you  will  be 
calm,  you  will  be  patient.  Ignorance 
is  the  root  of  all  littleness;  he  who  can 
realize  the  law  of  moral  conflicts,  and 
the  incoherence  of  falsehood,  and  the 
issue  of  perplexities,  and  the  presence 
of  the  Judge,  becomes,  from  the  very 
necessity  of  the  case,  philosophical, 
long-suffering  and  magnanimous. — 
"Present  Position  of  Catholics  in  Eng- 
land/' Led.  IX,  No.  4. 

The     Catholic    Truth     Society    cannot 
create  such  a  laity,  but  it  can  organize  it 

20 


The  Mission  of  the  Printing  Press. 

and  encourage  it.  Then,  there  is  a  second 
advantage,  as  great  in  its  way,  if  not 
greater.  The  American  people  reads. 
Perhaps  its  reading  is  not  deep,  but  it  is 
wide;  moreover,  it  is  impartial.  The  peo- 
ple will  read  anything  that  is  readable,  no 
matter  what  it  treats  about.  Every  fad, 
every  humbug,  every  political  measure, 
every  social  dream  has  its  expounders, 
has  its  readers — why  not  the  old  Church 
that  gave  printing  to  the  world?  We 
hardly  realize  what  a  powerful  engine  the 
printing  press  is.  The  Church  lias  never 
despised  it;  from  the  beginning  she  em- 
ployed it.  She  employs  it  now,  but  in  our 
country  not  enough.  To  help  in  some 
way  to  spread  Catholic  Truth  among  the 
people  by  means  of  Catholic  literature, 
this,  too,  is  the  end  of  the  Catholic  Truth 
Society. 

Such  are  some  of  the  advantages  which 
will  favor  the  work  of  the  Catholic 
Truth  Society.  There  are,  however,  dis- 
advantages against  which  we  must  strive — 


21 


Americans  Ready  to  Hear  All  Claims. 

and  this  brings  me  to  the  subject  proper 
of  this  lecture,  "Ghosts  in  General." 

When  the  prophet  of  a  new  political 
measure  comes  before  the  people,  men 
are  willing  to  take  him  for  what  he  is 
and  discuss  his  arguments  for  what  they  are 
worth.  They  are  willing  to  examine  the 
case  as  he  sets  it  forth  and,  although  they 
may  not  agree  with  him,  they  give  the 
measure  a  fair  hearing  and  accept  or  reject 
it  on  its  merits.  They  extend  this  courtesy 
to  every  one  who  comes  before  them  and 
claims  to  have  something  worth  talking 
about.  A  new  medicine  or  a  new  ma- 
chine, a  discovery  in  morals  or  a  discovery 
in  religion — all  claim  an  attentive  audi- 
ence, and  they  get  what  they  claim.  But 
there  is  one  society  which  comes  before 
American  non-Catholics  and  appeals  to 
them  in  vain.  The  Catholic  Church  is  in  the 
midst  of  them — a  fact  too  potent  to  be  de- 
nied, an  energy  too  strong  to  be  ignored. 
She  makes  lofty  claims  to  their  attention. 
In  a  world  of  clashing  and  conflicting  sects 
she  declares  that  she  holds  the  truth  once 

22 


Except  Those  Put  Forth  By  the  Church. 

delivered  to  the  saints.  To  those  who  are 
tossed  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine  she 
offers  the  shelter  and  security  of  the  Rock 
of  Peter.  To  those  who  are  perplexed  with 
the  riddle  of  existence  she  holds  out  the 
key  that  unlocks  all  mysteries.  In  an  age 
of  doubt  she  stands  for  faith.  In  a  land 
given  up,  above  all  lands,  to  things  ma- 
terial, she  is  the  witness  of  the  Unseen. 
Closer  and  closer  her  children  throng 
round  her.  Deeper  and  deeper,  day  by 
day,  grows  their  devotion  to  her.  As 
she  walks  through  the  land,  glorious  ca- 
thedrals, great  churches,  schools,  colleges 
and  universities,  hospitals  and  asylums 
spring  up  where  her  feet  have  trod.  And 
all  this  comes  to  pass  not  from  State  aid 
but  from  the  munificence  of  the  poor.  The 
ages  of  faith  are  renewed  and  the  widow's 
cruse  of  oil  is  not  diminished. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  all  her  claims,  of  all  her 
offers,  of  all  her  deeds,  she  cannot  obtain 
a  hearing  from  the  non-Catholic  body  of 
American  citizens.  Any  other  society  can 
be  put  on  trial  and  can  be  assured  of  a  fair 

23 


Because  to  Some  She  Is  a  Dead  Issue. 

verdict — her  case  is  already  judged.  Even 
those  who  claim  to  be  tolerant  and 
broad-minded,  and  have  convinced  them- 
selves that  they  are  tolerant  and  broad- 
minded,  put  her  aside  with  a  contemptuous 
shrug.  "Catholicity  is  a  dead  issue,"  they 
say,  "a  worn-out  superstition.  Civilization 
has  tried  the  Church  and  found  her  want- 
ing. She  may  have  had  her  uses  among 
the  barbarians  of  a  thousand  years  ago, 
or  among  the  barbarians  of  to-day,  but  we 
have  outgrown  her  tutelage.  What  mes- 
sage can  she  have  for  this  age?  None. 
Impossible!  Absurd!"  And  they  close 
their  ears  lest  they  may  hear,  and  they 
turn  to  the  betterment  of  the  condition  of 
decayed  dogs,  or  to  a  scientific  examination 
of  mediumistic  slate  writing,  or  to  the 
Buddhists  or  to  the  Theosophists,  or  to  any 
clue,  no  matter  how  faint,  that  promises 
to  lead  them  to  spiritual  truth,  and  they 
refuse  to  hear  her  voice  who  alone  has 
the  tidings  of  salvation. 

There  are  others  who,  when  they  hear 
her  claims,  shudder  at  the  very  name.    "Is 

24 


To  Others  She  Is  the  Mystery  of  Iniquity. 

she  not  Antichrist?  Is  she  not  the  mystery 
of  iniquity?  Is  she  not  the  scarlet  woman 
drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints?  To 
listen  to  her  would  bring  a  curse  upon  us 
and  ours.  She  is  like  that  heathen  Circe 
whose  voice  steals  away  the  senses  of  men. 
Let  us  therefore  stop  our  ears  lest  we  be 
destroyed.  We  have  seen  the  fate  of  this 
one  and  that  one  who  dallied  with  the 
temptation  and  fell  into  her  snares. 
They  left  the  brightness  and  liberty  of 
Protestantism,  and  went  into  the  dark- 
ness and  slavery  of  Rome.  They  were  be- 
witched. No  man  in  his  sane  senses  could 
have  done  it.  Therefore  they  are  insane. 
Let  us  keep  away  from  her.  Let  us  never 
look  upon  her  face.  Let  us  never  listen  to 
her  voice.  She  is  an  accursed  thing,  even 
as  our  fathers  told  us,  and  our  only  safety 
is  to  fly  when  she  draws  near." 

There  are  others  who  hear  her  chal- 
lenge and  answer  it  back  boldly.  "We 
know  you  of  old,"  they  say,  "friend  of  ty- 
rants and  enemy  of  the  people.  History 
tells  how  you  have  always  been  on  the  side 

25 


To  Others  She  Is  the  Ancient  Enemy. 


of  wrong,  never  on  the  side  of  right.  Here 
in  this  free  republic,  by  some  mysterious 
chicanery,  you  have  gathered  around  you 
the  ignorant  and  the  vicious.  You  have 
only  one  purpose.  You  would  destroy  our 
liberties,  overturn  our  schools,  and  erect  on 
the  ruins  of  the  capitol  the  throne  of  your 
Pope.  We  have  no  need  to  listen  to  you 
or  to  examine  your  claims.  The  report  of 
you  has  come  down  to  us  from  our  fathers 
who  went  out  of  you  and  were  saved. 
Your  blighting  influence  is  on  every  land. 
Compare  Spain  with  England,  compare 
Portugal  with  Germany,  compare  Mexico 
with  these  United  States.  Here  your  aim 
is  to  bring  back  the  darkness  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Therefore,  by  trickery  and  fraud 
you  have  got  possession  of  all  the  political 
offices;  you  have  your  Jesuits  in  the  Cab- 
inet; your  secret  societies  are  armed  and 
drilling,  you  are  only  waiting  for  the  op- 
portune moment  to  crush  out  Protestantism 
and  Liberty  together.  Listen  to  you!  Hear 
your  case!     Let  there  be   no   truce  with 


26 


Newman   Paints   the   Prejudiced   Man. 

treason.    Let  there  be  no  compromise  with 
dishonor." 

If,  by  any  chance,  the  case  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church  is  set  forth  in  public,  and  they 
cannot  help  but  listen,  think  you  that  they 
lay  aside  their  prejudice?  Newman  de- 
scribed the  state  of  affairs  in  1 85 1 .  His 
description  is  true  of  1897.  You,  your- 
selves are  acquainted  with  the  facts.  Judge 
then  the  accuracy  of  the  description : 

However,  we  will  suppose  the  prej- 
udiced man  in  a  specially  good  humor, 
when  you  set  about  undeceiving  him 
on  some  point  on  which  he  misstates 
the  Catholic  faith.  He  is  determined 
to  be  candor  and  fairness  itself  and  to 
do  full  justice  to  your  argument.  So 
you  begin  with  your  explanation :  You 
assure  him  he  misconceives  your  doc- 
trines ;  he  has  got  a  wrong  view  of 
facts.  You  appeal  to  original  authori- 
ties, and  show  him  how  shamefully 
they  have  been  misquoted;  you  appeal 
to  history,  and  prove  it  has  been 
gambled.  Nothing  is  wanted  to  your 
representation;  it  is  triumphant.  He 
is  silent  for  a  moment,  then  he  begins 

27 


The  General  Anti-Catholic  Temper.  * 
• 


with  a  sentiment,  "What  clever  fellows 
these  Catholic  are!"  he  says,  "I  defy 
you  to  catch  them  tripping;  they  have 
a  way  out  of  everything.  I  thought 
we  had  you,  but  I  fairly  own  I  am 
beaten.  This  is  how  the  Jesuits  get 
on;  always  educated,  subtle,  well  up 
in  their  books — a  Protestant  has  no 
chance  with  them."  You  see,  you  have 
not  advanced  a  step  in  convincing  him. 

So,  while  the  meanest  and  poorest  have 
the  right  to  come  before  the  bar  of  pub- 
lic opinion  and  demand  a  fair  hearing, 
the  greatest  Church  in  the  world,  the 
Mother  Church  of  Christendom,  no 
sooner  appears  in  judgment  than  the 
voices  are  raised,  "Away  with  her! 
Crucify  her!  Crucify  her!"  That  I 
am  not  exaggerating,  your  own  experi- 
ence bears  witness.  I  do  not  mean  to 
classify  the  whole  non-Catholic  world 
under  the  head  of  the  vulgar  ranters  who 
a  few  years  ago  disgraced  the  name  of 
Protestant.  But  I  do  mean  that  all  have 
that  temper  of  mind  which  renders  them 
averse  to  examining  the  claims  of   Cath- 

28 


Stimulated  By  Old  and  New  Charges. 

olicity.  With  the  illiterate,  the  calumnies 
that  we  sell  for  money  permission  to  com- 
mit sin;  that  we  are  idolators;  that  priests 
are  all  bad  and  nuns  all  wicked;  that  mur- 
der and  adultery  and  lying  are  favorite 
pastimes  of  ours;  that  we  are  guilty  of 
fraud  in  our  dealings  with  the  people,  and 
that  we  grow  fat  on  the  credulity  of  the 
ignorant — with  the  illiterate,  I  say,  these 
calumnies  take,  and  stand  in  the  place  of 
argument.  With  others,  the  charges  that 
the  priests  are  in  politics,  that  we  have 
designs  on  the  school  fund,  that  we  put 
none  but  Catholics  into  office,  are  sufficient. 
With  others,  the  belief  that  history  tells 
how  we  were  bloodthirsty  and  cruel  in  the 
past,  and  how  we  would  be  bloodthirsty 
and  cruel  now  if  we  had  the  power,  is  both 
law  and  Gospel.  With  still  others,  the  con- 
viction that  we  are  a  survival  of  the  un- 
fittest,  that  we  are  an  anomaly  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  that  enlightenment  must 
slay  us — makes  them  indifferent  to  our  rea- 
soning. And  so  on — for  a  thousand  argu- 
ments or  one — through  every  walk  of  life, 

29 


The  Haunted  House  and  Its  Ghosts. 

through  every  class  of  society,  but  the  re- 
sult is  the  same.  Ignore  the  Church  if  you 
can,  fight  her  if  you  dare,  speak  well  of 
her  if  you  must,  but  never,  under  any  cir- 
cumstance, permit  yourself  to  believe  that 
she  may  be  true  and  that  her  claims  are 
worthy~bf  examination  by  men  of  sense. 

Have  you  ever  heard  of  a  haunted 
house?  perhaps  you  have  seen  one.  No- 
body can  tell  what  it  is  that  distinguishes 
it  from  other  deserted  houses,  yet  even 
under  the  broad  daylight  it  has  an  air  of 
mystery  and  peculiar  desolation.  The  win- 
dows are  broken,  grass  is  growing  in  the 
walks,  the  paint  is  peeling  off  the  wood- 
work, the  walls  are  discolored  with  mold, 
the  trees  about  grow  wild  and  into 
strange  and  fantastic  shapes.  Rumor  runs 
that  unearthly  noises  have  been  heard  at 
the  dead  hour  of  night — shrieks  and  the 
clanking  of  chains.  When  friends  are 
gathered  round  the  fire,  when  jest  and 
laughter  follow  fast,  you  may  tell  the  story 
of  the  haunted  house,  and  meet  with  incre- 
dulity; but  pass  it  in  the  night  alone,  when 

30 


But  No  Ghost  Can  Outlast  the  Dawn. 


the  trees  nod  and  beckon  in  the  wind, 
when  the  broken  windows  rattle  in  their 
frames,  when  the  boards  creak — no  one 
knows  why—and  the  bats  whizz  in  and  out 
of  the  deserted  rooms — and  there  are  few 
who  will  not  at  least  whistle  to  keep  up 
their  courage.  Why  they  are  afraid  none 
can  tell.  Why  the  house  should  be  haunted 
there  is  no  authentic  reason.  No  one  ever 
came  nearer  to  the  Ghost  than  the  man 
whose  brother-in-law's  wife's  grandfather 
was  related  to  the  man  that  saw  the  man 
that  saw  the  Ghost.  Yet  the  house  is 
haunted;  every  one  says  so;  every  one  is 
right.     Have  naught  to  do  with  it. 

Terrible,  however,  as  Ghosts  may  be  in 
the  witching  hours  of  night,  when  grave- 
yards yawn,  not  one  of  them  can  bear  the 
light  of  day.  As  soon  as  the  dawn  is  grey 
in  the  sky  the  most  pertinacious  must  flit 
away.    Says  the  melancholy  Dane: 

I  have  heard, 
The  cock,  that  is  the  trumpet  to  the 
morn, 


3i 


The  Ghosts  of  Anti-Catholic  Bigotry. 

Doth  with  his  lofty  and  shrill  sound- 
ing throat 

Awake  the  god  of  day;  and,  at  his 
warning, 

Whether  in  sea  or  fire,  in  earth  or  air, 

The  extravagant  and  erring  spirit  hies 
to  his  confine. 

You  may  see  now  why  I  have  entitled 
this  lecture  "Ghosts  in  General."  To 
those  who  do  not  belong  to  her  commun- 
ion, the  Catholic  Church  is  like  some 
haunted  house.  Dark  and  bloody  deeds 
are  done  within  its  walls.  Strange  cowled 
figures,  known  as  inquisitors,  stretch  the 
Protestant  upon  the  rack  and  then  give 
his  tortured  limbs  to  the  tenderer  mercies 
of  the  faggot  and  the  stake.  Popes,  Jesuits, 
monks,  cardinals,  nuns,  stalk  through  its 
rooms;  shrieks  and  groans  are  mingled 
with  unholy  revelry  and  blasphemy  against 
the  Most  High.  The  pious  Protestant 
stops  his  ears  and  flies  from  the  accursed 
spot.  But  when  the  sun  rises  all  these  ghosts 
hie  them  away.  If  the  terrors  of  his  mid- 
night experience  will  permit  him  he  may 

32 


Newman  Describes  the  Flitting  of  the  Ghosts. 

now  examine  the  house  from  garret  to  cel- 
lar. But  unfortunately  he  will  not.  He 
knows  enough  about  the  house — catch  him 
going  there  again!  If  he  did,  as  Newman 
says: 

The  spectres  of  tyranny,  hypocrisy 
and  fraud  would  flit  away  with  the 
morning  light.  There  would  be  no 
more  dread  of  being  burned  alive  by 
Papists,  or  of  the  gutters  overflowing 
with  Protestant  blood.  Dungeons, 
racks,  pulleys  and  quicklime  would  be 
like  the  leavings  of  a  yesterday's  revel. 
Nor  would  the  political  aims  and  plots 
and  intrigues,  so  readily  imputed  to 
us,  seem  more  substantial,  and  though 
I  suppose  there  is  lying  and  littleness 
and  over-reaching  and  rivalry  to  be 
found  among  us  as  among  other  sons 
of  Adam,  yet  the  notion  that  we  mo- 
nopolized these  vile  qualities  or  had 
more  than  our  share  of  them  would 
be  an  exploded  superstition.  This,  in- 
deed, would  be  a  short  and  easy  way 
not  of  making  Protestants  Catholics 
but  of  reversing  their  ridiculous 
dreams  about  us — I  mean  if  they 
actually  saw  what  they  so  interminably 
argue  about. 

33 


The  Origin  of  the  Anti-Catholic  Ghosts. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  Whence 
those  Ghosts?  Some  Ghosts,  you  know, 
arise  by  a  kind  of  spontaneous  generation. 
They  come  into  being  on  the  principle  of 
giving  a  dog  a  bad  name.  Let  a  house  be 
shut  up,  let  it  be  untenanted  for  a  long 
time,  let  rats  hold  high  revelry  in  it,  and 
soon  the  Ghosts  appear.  Other  Ghosts  are 
the  creations  of  mischievous  boys  or  of 
evil,  designing  men.  But  they  all  have  this 
quality:  you  must  keep  away  from  them  if 
you  would  believe  in  them.  Once  let  the 
clear  light  of  truth  shine  upon  them  and 
they  vanish  into  air. 

This  is  the  object  of  this  series  of  lec- 
tures— to  study  the  origin  of  the  anti-Cath- 
olic Ghosts.  We  shall  see  that  some  of 
them  are  the  creation  of  evil  men  for  evil 
purposes.  We  shall  see  that  some  of  them 
are  the  spontaneous  productions  of  disor- 
dered imaginations  and  hereditary  igno- 
rance. We  shall  first  study' the  general 
sources  whence  these  delusions  spring,  and 
we  shall  take  up,  one  by  one,  some  of  the 
great  historic  Ghosts,  bring  them  into  the 

34 


The  Master's  Promise  of  Persecution. 

white  light  of  truth,  and,  as. they  vanish 
away  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  their 
nature,  we  may  discover  the  hidden 
springs,  the  wires,  the  ropes,  the  pulleys 
that  made  them  seem  so  lifelike  and  so 
terrible  when  they  stalked  abroad  among 
a  credulous  generation. 

The  history  of  human  credulity  is  not 
pleasant  reading.  We  agree  readily 
enough  with  the  exclamation  of  the  fairy, 
"What  fools  these  mortals  be!"  But  when 
we  examine  the  long  catalogue  of  fooleries, 
and  read  how  often  and  how  grossly  and 
how  multifariously  men  have  made  fools 
of  themselves  we  begin  to  be  ashamed  of 
our  human  nature.  But  in  dealing  with 
the  Christian  religion  men  have  surpassed 
all  records  on  all  other  subjects.  The 
Founder  of  that  religion  warned  His  dis- 
ciples that  such  was  to  be  their  fate: 
"Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  hate  you 
and  revile  you  and  persecute  you  and  say 
all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely  for 
My  sake.  Rejoice  and  be  glad,  for  your 
reward  is  very  great  in  heaven."     In  His 

35 


The  Pagan  Calumnies  About  Christians. 

own  person  that  same  Divine  Founder  suf- 
fered the  evils  which  He  foretold.  He 
was  accused  of  disloyalty,  He  was  ac- 
cused of  stirring  up  sedition,  He  was 
accused  of  plotting  the  overthrow  of  the 
institutions  of  His  country.  Hardly  had 
His  religion  begun  to  take  form  than  these 
and  other  calumnies  were  hurled  at  it. 
When  Nero,  the  Roman  emperor,  was  ac- 
cused of  burning  Rome  he  was  able  to 
divert  suspicion  from  himself  by  laying 
the  crime  at  the  door  of  the  Christians. 
Nothing  was  too  wild,  too  revolting  to  be 
believed  about  them.  For  three  hundred 
years  they  were  held  up  to  the  patri- 
otic Romans  as  enemies  of  the  gods  and 
enemies  of  their  country.  It  was  said  that 
they  were  consumed  with  a  deadly  hatred 
of  all  mankind,  that  they  fled  the  light, 
that  they  carried  out  their  rites  in  caverns. 
They  were  accused  by  learned  and  sober 
writers  of  feasting  on  human  flesh.  Some 
inkling  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Pres- 
ence in  the  Eucharist  had  reached  the  pa- 
gan mind,  and  such  was  the  interpretation 

36 


The  Protestant  Calumnies  About  Catholics. 

put  upon  it.  A  young  child,  it  was  said, 
was  brought  into  the  Christian  assemblies. 
It  was  covered  with  flour  and  then  stabbed 
to  death  with  a  knife.  The  Christians 
drank  its  blood  and  ate  its  flesh.  Such  a 
calumny  may  seem  to  you  too  absurd  for 
credence,  yet  it  was  believed.  And,  strange 
to  say,  it  has  survived  through  all  those 
centuries,  so  little  does  human  nature 
change.  Tt  is  still  common  enough  among 
anti-Catholic  lecturers  of  the  baser  sort 
who  are  continually  harping  on  the  babies' 
bones  found  in  convent  cellars  and  convent 
sewers.  But  it  is  one  and  the  same  old 
Ghost  that  stirred  the  Romans  to  frenzy 
and  made  the  amphitheatre  ring  with  the 
cry,  "The  Christians  to  the  lions!" 

It  is  a  peculiar  characteristic  of  those 
Ghosts,  that  not  only  are  they  Ghosts  but 
they  are  dirty  Ghosts.  Tn  the  old  Roman 
times  it  was  charged  by  the  Pagans  that 
the  Christian  assemblies  were  scenes  of  de- 
bauchery and  of  crimes  that  are  not  named 
without  a  shudder.  The  verv  same  calum- 
nies are  uttered  against  the  Church  to-day 

37 


A  Witness  to  the  Continuity  of  the  Church. 

— were  uttered  from  this  platform  and 
against  you  who  have  lived  your  lives  in 
this  town. 

As  the  Catholic  Church  is  the  Church  of 
Christ,  as  she  is  the  Church  of  the  Cata- 
combs and  of  the  Martyrs,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  this  continuity  of  calumny 
should  bear  witness  to  the  continuity  of  her 
existence.  If  she  has  the  inheritance  of  the 
disciples'  glory  she  must  have  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  disciples'  trials.  For  this  if 
for  no  other  reason  we  should  expect  that 
the  great  institution  founded  by  Him  who 
was  set  for  a  sign  to  be  spoken  against 
should  be  gainsaid.  But  there  are  special 
reasons  why  the  Catholic  Church  should 
be  spoken  against  by  our  non-Catholic 
brethren  in  this  country,  and  why  they 
should  have  a  breed  of  Ghosts  all  their 
own  to  people  the  haunted  house. 

The  population  of  this  land  is  made  up 
of  men  from  every  race  and  country.  The 
earlier  colonists,  however,  came  from  the 
British  Islands,  and  they  have  impressed 
their   language   and   their   laws   upon    the 

38 


The  Religion  of  the  Colonists  English. 

whole  nation.  Only  one  of  the  original 
colonies  was  in  the  beginning  Catholic, 
and,  as  you  know,  the  presecuted  Protes- 
tants who  found  a  refuge  from  intolerance 
in  Maryland  turned  on  their  hosts  and  pro- 
scribed the  Catholic  faith  within  its  bor- 
ders. Before  the  War  of  Independence 
the  thirteen  colonies  were  practically 
Protestant.  Their  Protestantism  was  not 
all  of  the  same  variety,  but  the  varieties 
agreed  in  one  thing,  that  immediately  or 
mediately  they  came  from  England.  The 
Puritans  and  Cavaliers  were  English  born, 
the  Presbyterians  were  either  from  Scot- 
land or  the  north  of  Ireland.  The  re- 
ligion, therefore,  of  the  colonists,  like  their 
language,  was  English. 

Leaving  out  the  Lutherans,  the  main 
stream  of  American  Protestantism  de- 
scends from  this  source.  By  American 
Protestantism  I  mean  not  only  the  sects 
like  the  Congregationalists,  Unitarians, 
Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  so 
on,  but  the  far  more  numerous  body  of 
non-Catholics  who  march  under  no  eccle- 

39 


How  Protestantism  Came  Into  England. 

siastical  banner  but  agree  in  this,  that 
they  are  not  Catholics.  American  Protes- 
tantism, therefore,  has  two  heirlooms — the 
English  language  and  the  English  tradition 
about  the  Catholic  Church. 

Up  to  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  England 
had  been  a  Catholic  country.  That  mon- 
arch threw  off  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope 
because  the  Pope  refused  him  a  divorce. 
In  his  reign  and  in  the  reign  of  his  son 
the  process  of  de-Catholicizing  England 
went  on.  It  was  checked  for  a  while  under 
Mary,  but  was  renewed  under  Elizabeth 
and  completed  under  James.  The  process 
therefore  lasted  for  over  a  hundred  years. 
Though  it  was  accelerated  by  massacres, 
by  murder,  by  the  stake,  the  rack  and  the 
gibbet,  by  fine,  imprisonment,  confiscation 
and  banishment,  it  was  still  a  slow  process. 
It  is  not  easy  to  rob  a  people  of  the  faith 
which  their  fathers  before  them  had 
professed  for  nearly  a  thousand  years. 

We  often  wonder  when  we  read  the  his- 
tory of  those  times  how  it  was  done.  The 
common  Protestant  theory  is  that  there  was 

40 


By  Base  Methods  and  Baser  Men. 

a  great  awakening  of  the  human  mind  and 
that  the  benighted  Catholics  saw  the  light 
of  the  Gospel  for  the  first  time  and  flocked 
around  it.  We  know  that  the  common 
Protestant  theory  is  wrong.  The  move- 
ment from  beginning  to  end  was  a  polit- 
ical movement.  In  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII  it  was  directed  against  the  Pope  be- 
cause the  Pope  would  not  pander  to 
Henry's  lust.  In  no  other  article  of  faith 
would  he  allow  dissent,  and  he  burned  the 
poor  Lutheran  who  denied  the  Real  Pres- 
ence in  the  Blessed  Sacrament  as  cheer- 
fully as  he  beheaded  his  Lord  Chancellor 
who  denied  the  royal  headship  of  the 
Church.  In  Mary's  time  the  Parliament 
acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope; 
in  Elizabeth's  time  the  Parliament  repu- 
diated it.  Macaulay's  words  concerning 
the  persons  who  introduced  the  Reforma- 
tion into  England  are  severe,  yet  Macaulay 
was  a  Protestant  of  the  Protestants: 

A  king  whose  character  may  be  best 
described  by  saying  that  he  was  des- 
potism itself  personified,  unprincipled 

4i 


In  the  Long  Run  Protestantism  Triumphed. 

ministers,  a  rapacious  aristocracy,  a 
servile  Parliament,  such  were  the  in- 
struments by  which  England  was  de- 
livered from  the  yoke  of  Rome.  The 
work  which  had  been  begun  by: 
Henry,  the  murderer  of  his  wives,  was 
continued  by  Somerset,  the  murderer 
of  his  brother,  and  completed  by  Eliz- 
abeth, the  murderer  of  her  guest.  .  . 
Of  those  who  had  any  important  share 
in  bringing  the  Reformation  about, 
Ridley  was  perhaps  the  only  person 
who  did  not  consider  it  as  a  mere 
political  job. — Essay  on  Hallam. 

But  the  Protestant  movement  in  England, 
such  as  it  was,  was  a  success.  It  was  the 
religion  of  the  court,  and  therefore  became 
a  passport  to  royal  favor  and  political  pre- 
ferment. It  became  the  synonym  for  all 
that  was  cultured,  for  all  that  was 
powerful.  It  was  no  advantage  to  the 
Catholics  to  protest  that  they,  too,  were 
loyal,  to  muster  in  thousands  around  their 
queen  when  the  Armada  threatened  Eng- 
land. The  Protestant  party  determined 
that  they  were  to  be  disloyal,  and  as  dis- 

42 


Catholics  Stigmatized  as  Traitors  and  Fools. 

loyal  they  were  branded  by  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, by  popular  rumor,  by  the  tradition  of 
literature.  It  was  of  no  avail  for  learned 
men  to  write  in  the  defense  of  the  old 
Church — their  books  were  burned  by  the 
common  hangman,  and  they,  too,  if  the 
powers  that  were  got  their  hands  on  them, 
suffered  the  fate  of  their  books.  It  was  of 
no  avail  to  speak  of  the  services  of  the 
ancient  religion ;  the  ancient  religion  was 
declared  to  be  a  thing  of  mummeries 
and  superstitions,  and  straightway,  in  the 
mouths  of  courtiers,  in  the  mouths  of  the 
leaders  of  fashion,  a  thing  of  mummeries 
and  superstitions  it  became.  It  was  of  no 
avail  to  point  to  the  fact  that  the  bulk  of 
the  people  clung  to  the  ancient  faith;  what 
were  the  people  without  leaders?  There- 
fore, take  their  leaders,  banish  some  be- 
yond the  seas,  clap  others  into  prison  and 
chop  their  heads  off  as  traitors,  and,  be- 
hold, the  people,  like  sheep  without  a  shep- 
herd, are  scattered  on  every  hill.  So  it 
was  in  England — the  politicians  decreed 
that  the  old  religion  should  go,  and  go  it 

43 


Persecution  Made  the  New  Religion  Secure. 

did.  They  called  its  professors  ignorant, 
and  ignorant  they  became.  They  called 
its  defenders  disloyal,  and  disloyal  they 
were.  Let  Papist  be  a  name  of  re- 
proach; let  Mary,  the  Catholic,  be 
"Bloody  Mary;"  let  Elizabeth,  the  Prot- 
estant, be  "Good  Queen  Bess;"  let  Jesuit- 
ical mean  dishonorable  and  tricky;  let 
monk  stand  for  bigot;  let  Catholic  be  an- 
other name  for  superstitious  and  reaction- 
ary, and  let  the  great  Church  which  civil- 
ized the  world  be  the  mother  of  abomina- 
tions. As  it  was  decreed,  so  it  was  done. 
Those  politicians  did  their  work  well. 
They  made  England  a  Protestant  country 
by  making  Protestant  a  word  of  blessing 
and  Catholic  a  word  of  reproach.  The 
tradition  which  they  founded  was  handed 
down  from  father  to  son.  If  a  chance 
Catholic  should  protest — for  two  centuries 
and  a  half — the  laws  took  care  that  his  pro- 
test should  not  be  heard.  Now  that  he  can 
be  heard,  the  dead  weight  of  the  tradition 
continues  the  work  of  the  penal  laws. 
Therefore  it  is  that  the  Catholic  Church 

44 


The  English  Tradition  Imported  to  America. 


is  refused  the  hearing  which  our  Ameri- 
can people  give  to  every  other  system. 
The  traditions  of  England  were  carried 
over  to  this  land,  and  here  they  grew 
and  thrived.  The  necessities  of  our 
war  for  Independence  made  us  toler- 
ant, but  the  old  leaven  was  still  in  the 
new  lump.  Catholics  were  few  and  far 
between.  The  old  prejudice  was  propa- 
gated in  Sunday  school  and  in  public 
school,  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  history,  in  the 
novel,  in  conversation,  in  the  manners  of 
the  people.  Catholicism  was  something 
outlandish,  strange,  suspicious,  disloyal. 
That  Catholics  had  horns  and  that  their 
priests  had  cloven  hoofs  was  an  article  of 
faith  in  some  localities;  in  all  localities 
Catholicism  was  an  evil  to  be  dreaded,  a 
superstition  to  be  set  aside  as  unworthy 
of  the  contemplation  of  serious  men. 

So  the  tradition  continued  even  to  our 
own  day.  The  increasing  numbers  of  Cath- 
olics may  have  modified  its  virulence  in 
some  respects;  in  others  the  growth  of  the 
Church  has  intensified  it.     While  English 

45 


Long  Quarrel  Between  Ireland  and  England. 

speaking  Protestantism  in  this  country  is  of 
English  descent  immediately  or  mediately, 
the  earliest  and  the  main  stream  of  English 
speaking  Catholicism  had  its  origin  in  Ire- 
land. Now  between  England  and  Ireland 
the  quarrel  of  centuries  has  left  hard  and 
bitter  feelings.  In  the  end  England  proved 
the  luckier  and  she  ground  the  sister  island 
beneath  her  heel.  She  ravaged  the  land 
from  end  to  end.  She  drove  out  the  lead- 
ers of  the  people.  She  strove  for  a  hun- 
dred years  to  force  her  new  religion  upon 
them,  she  made  a  nation  that,  if  left 
alone,  would  be  considered  prosperous  and 
learned,  "the  most  distressful  country  that 
ever  yet  was  seen." 

When  men  act  with  one  another  in  the 
way  England  acted  with  Ireland,  they 
must  give  some  reason  to  themselves  and 
others  for  their  action.  So  England  ex- 
plained to  the  world  why  it  was  necessary 
to  plunder  Ireland  so  often  and  to  harry 
her  people  and  to  reduce  her  periodically 
to  starvation.  Of  course,  the  explanation 
must    not    hurt    England.      All    the    fault 

46 


The  English  Tradition  About  Ireland. 

must  be  laid  at  the  doors  of  the  mere 
Irishry.  They  were  little  more  than  sav- 
ages, treacherous,  cruel,  dishonest,  given 
to  shooting  the  virtuous  English  from  be- 
hind hedges,  and,  under  all  circumstances, 
"agin  the  government."  They  were  un- 
fitted for  self-rule  —  watch  their  eter- 
nal squabbling,  though  their  squabbling 
is  but  mild  compared  to  that  in  which 
the  politicians  of  other  lands  indulge. 
They  are  lazy  and  improvident.  It  is  true 
we  have  deliberately  killed  their  manufac- 
tures and  permitted  landlordism  to  rob 
them  of  their  earnings  twice  a  year — still, 
what  can  you  do  with  people  who  live  in 
thatched  cabins  and  burn  turf?  Then 
their  priests  own  them.  They  are  the  de- 
graded servants  of  the  hierarchy.  If  they 
would  only  turn  Protestant,  we  should  be 
inclined  to  pity  them;  but  the  best  we  can 
do  for  Papists  is  to  exterminate  them; 
send  them,  by  the  sword  of  Cromwell  in 
one  century,  to  hell  or  to  Connacht;  send 
them,  by  the  bitter  famine  in  another  cen- 
tury, to  the  workhouse  or  to  America. 

47 


The  Great  Irish  Migration  to  the  States. 

This  was  the  story  England  told  the 
world,  and  the  English  colonists  carried 
it  to  this  new  land.  The  Irishman  was 
some  kind  of  an  inferior  creature  born  to 
be  the  hewer  of  wood  and  the  drawer  of 
water  to  the  Anglo-Saxon.  He  was  some- 
thing half  man  and  half  monkey;  some- 
times amusing,  always  contemptible.  Then 
he  worshipped  the  Pope,  paid  to  have  his 
sins  forgiven,  hated  the  Bible  and  there- 
fore could  neither  read  nor  write,  but  was 
in  all  things  degraded  and  to  be  despised. 

Hence,  when  in  the  first  half  of  the 
century  the  great  Irish  immigration  set 
towards  these  shores  we  had  so  many 
outbreaks  of  anti-Catholic  fanaticism. 
The  old  Ghosts  came  up  out  of  their 
graves  and  went  up  and  down  the  dark 
places  of  the  land.  Lodges  were  founded, 
meetings  were  held,  oaths  were  sworn  to 
protect  the  country  from  the  Pope,  the 
Devil   and   the   Irish. 

You  see,  then,  that  two  of  England's 
traditions,  the  tradition  about  the  Catholic 
and  the  tradition  about  the  Irish,  met  in 

48 


The  New  Ghosts  of  Bigotry  in  America. 

this  country  to  form  a  very  obnoxious  and 
terrible  Ghost.  It  is  true  that  where  the 
new  comers  were  brought  in  close  contact 
with  the  old  residents  of  the  land  the 
Ghost  was  speedily  laid.  Personal  friend- 
ships, business  connections,  intermarriage, 
conversions,  all  tended  to  exorcise  the 
evil  spirit.  But  it  would  be  untrue  to  say 
that  it  does  not  still  exist.  The  tradition 
still  runs  at  times  in  a  subterranean  cur- 
rent, but  given  a  favorable  opportunity  it 
comes  to  the  surface  and  sweeps  thousands 
with  it. 

You,  yourselves,  can  judge  if  I  speak 
the  truth.  If  any  one  should  say  that  the 
Episcopalians  or  the  Baptists  or  the  Meth- 
odists were  storing  arms  in  the  basement 
of  their  churches,  and  were  getting  ready 
to  massacre  all  who  did  not  believe  with 
them,  no  one  would  credit  it.  Say  that 
the  Catholic  churches  are  arsenals  and 
that  the  Catholics  are  preparing  to  mur- 
der Protestants,  and  the  story  is  believed. 
No  authority  is  asked  for  this  truth;  no 
authority  is  given.     No  one  thinks  of  ex- 

49 


The  Preponderance  of  Irish  Office  Holders. 

amining  the  churches  to  find  out  for  him- 
self. The  tale  is  in  complete  accord  with 
the  Protestant  tradition.  It  agrees  with 
what  Protestants  were  told  in  their  youth; 
with  what  they  read  in  their  histories.  The 
Catholics  were  always  cruel,  always  blood- 
thirsty. The  Ethiopian  does  not  change 
his  skin  or  the  leopard  his  spots. 

Again,  if  any  one  should  say  that  Pres- 
byterians have  all  the  political  offices 
worth  having,  no  one  would  believe  it. 
At  least  there  would  be  some  examination 
of  the  records;  some  search  for  facts. 
But  say  the  Catholics  hold  all  the  offices, 
and  then  rattle  off  a  list  of  Irish  names 
as  proof  of  your  assertion,  and  the  fiction 
is  swallowed.  Men  will  not  take  the 
trouble  to  find  out  what  is  the  proportion 
of  Catholic  office  holders  to  non-Catholic 
office  holders,  or  the  proportion  of  the 
Catholic  population  to  the  non-Catholic 
population.  No;  they  believe  at  once 
that  the  Pope's  Irish  have  captured  the 
works.  They  have  always  heard  that  the 
Bishops  and  priests  and  Jesuits  were  cun- 

50 


Protestant  and  Catholic  Countries  Compared. 

ning  fellows,  and  that  the  Catholics  have 
by  such  cunning  been  foisted  into  public 
offices,  is  all  of  a  piece  with  their  infor- 
mation. 

Let  any  platform  speaker  get  up  and 
characterize  all  Catholic  countries  as  ig- 
norant and  unprogressive;  no  one  is  sur- 
prised. It  is  just  what  they  expected.  Let 
any  magazine  writer  stigmatize  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  as  bloody  and  intolerant — every 
one  remembers  the  adjectives  he  uses  as 
old  familiar  friends — is  it  not  so  written 
in  our  school  histories?  Let  a  Catholic 
protest  against  such  histories,  and  straight- 
way he  has  designs  on  our  public  schools. 
Let  him  attempt  to  correct  the  popular 
notions  about  his  fathers  in  the  faith,  and 
he  is  asked  does  he  think  he  can  throw 
dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  enlightened  Ameri- 
can public  at  this  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century? 

But  you  can  supply  illustrations  from 
your  own  experience  far  better  than  I. 
These  are  the  Ghosts  which  we  must  send 
flitting    back    to    the    shades    from    which 

5i 


The  Real  Meaning  of  Catholic  Truth. 

they  emerged,  by  the  cold,  white  light  of 
truth.  This  is  the  work  of  a  Catholic 
Truth  Society.  And  on  the  very  thresh- 
old we  shall  meet  one  of  those  suspicious 
spectres.  Why  a  Catholic  Truth  Society? 
Why  Catholic  Truth?  Truth  has  no  re- 
ligion. Protestant  Truth  is  as  good  as 
Catholic  Truth.  What,  then,  must  this 
Catholic  Truth  be  but  a  wicked  perver- 
sion of  history  to  deceive  us  into  surren- 
dering our  glorious  heritage  of  the  Bible? 
We  shall  not  quarrel  about  a  word.  Truth 
is  of  no  religion.  Catholic  Truth  means 
only  the  truth  about  Catholics.  We  care 
not  from  what  source  it  comes;  truth  is 
as  welcome  from  the  Protestant  as  from 
the  Catholic.  All  we  want  is  the  truth, 
and  all  we  want  is  that  our  non-Catholic 
brethren  should  examine  what  we  have  to 
say.  We  do  not  expect  to  make  them  all 
Catholics  by  our  crusade.  That  work  be- 
longs solely  to  Him  who  holds  in  His 
hands  the  hearts  of  men  and  sweetly  dis- 
poses all  things  as  He  wills.  We  have 
but  one  object,  and   that  is  to  bring  men 

52 


We  Ask  Only  Fair  Play  and  No  Favor. 

to  see  realities,  not  Ghosts.  We  wish 
them  to  see  with  their  eyes,  and  to  hear 
with  their  ears,  and  to  handle  with  their 
hands,  and  to  say  if  we  are  the  traitors, 
the  sots,  the  scoundrels,  the  ignoramuses, 
that  the  great  Protestant  tradition  repre- 
sents us  to  be.  We  ask  them  to  give  the 
Catholic  Church  the  American  privilege 
of  fair  play  and  to  hear  the  side  of  the 
accused  before  passing  judgment.  This 
is  not  an  unreasonable  request,  and  should 
not  be  denied  us.  And  it  shall  not.  False- 
hood has  had  its  day,  and  mayhap  a  long 
day,  but  its  longest  day  must  have  an  end. 
.No  lie  is  eternal.  Sooner  or  later  the 
truth  must  prevail.  To  have  some  share 
in  securing  the  triumph  of  truth  is  the 
aim  of  a  Catholic  Truth  Society.  The 
signs  of  the  times  are  clear  that  the  tri- 
umph cannot  be  long  delayed.  The 
Church  is  free.  She  is  not  compelled  to 
hide  in  catacombs  or  in  garrets.  She 
walks  in  the  midst  of  men,  and,  though 
her  enemies  may  cast  dirt  at  her  and 
slander  her  and  gnash  their  teeth  at  her, 

53 


We  Are  Confident  of  the  Triumph  of  Truth. 

they  cannot  deceive  men  forever.  Man's 
heart  was  made  for  truth.  The  scales  of 
the  tradition  shall  some  day  fall  from  the 
eyes  of  our  brethren,  and  then  shall  they  see 
the  beauty  of  the  Church  of  God  even  as 
the  prophet  saw  her  when  her  feet  were 
fresh  on  the  hills  of  eternity.  "Who  is  she 
that  cometh  forth  as  the  morning  rising, 
fair  as  the  moon,  beautiful  as  the  sun, 
terrible  as  an  army  set  in  battle  array?" 


54 


II -THE  GUNPOWDER  PLOT. 

IN  July,  of  1775,  George  Washing- 
ton took  command  of  the  American 
troops  before  Boston.  Though  they 
had  shown  their  mettle  at  Bunker  Hill, 
they  were  still  raw  levies  and  sadly  in 
need  of  military  discipline.  To  inculcate 
discipline,  to  procure  supplies  and  to 
guide  the  military  operations  over  a  vast 
extent  of  territory,  was  the  task  Wash- 
ington set  himself  to  accomplish  in  the 
second  half  of  the  year  1775.  He  suc- 
ceeded, and  his  success  meant  independ- 
ence. 

One  of  his  general  orders  dealing  with 
discipline  has  an  interest  for  Catholics.  In 
New  England  the  5th  of  November  was 
known  as  "Pope's  day."  A  figure  repre- 
senting the  Pope  was  carried  through  the 
streets  in  mock  procession  and  burned.  In 
I775>  when  November  came  round,  the 
New  England  soldiers  before  Boston  were 

55 


George  Washington  and  Pope's  Day. 

preparing  for  the  usual  celebration.  Wash- 
ington heard  of  it  and  issued  an  order,  in 
which  he  said: 

As  the  Commander-in-chief  has 
been  apprised  of  a  design  formed  for 
the  observance  of  that  ridiculous  and 
childish  custom  of  burning  the  effigy 
of  the  Pope,  he  cannot  help  express- 
ing his  surprise  that  there  should  be 
officers  and  soldiers  in  this  army  so 
devoid  of  common  sense  as  not  to 
see  the  impropriety  of  such  a  step. 
It  is  so  monstrous  as  not  to  be  suffered 
or  excused;  indeed,  instead  of  offering 
the  most  remote  insult,  it  is  our  duty 
to  address  public  thanks  to  our  Cath- 
olic brethren,  as  to  them  we  are  in- 
debted for  every  late  success  over  the 
common  enemy  in  Canada. 

By  those  words  was  laid  forever  one 
of  the  most  terrible  and  bloodthirsty 
Ghosts  of  the  great  Protestant  tradition.  It 
was  an  English  Ghost,  which  had  been 
brought  over  by  the  Puritans  to  these 
shores.     It  was  a  Ghost  which  had  been 

S6 


An  English  Ghost  Brought  by  Puritans. 

evoked  by  English  political  needs  to  di- 
vide the  English  people  and  to  rivet  on 
their  necks  a  tyranny,  the  most  abject 
known  in  history.  It  was  a  Ghost  which 
made  intolerance  possible,  and  secured, 
at  least  for  a  time,  the  triumph  of 
the  "divine  right  of  kings  to  govern 
wrong."  It  was  but  fitting  that  a  new 
nation,  which  had  grown  tired  of  kings, 
and  was  destined  to  become  an  exem- 
plar of  religious  liberty  to  all  peoples, 
should  at  the  very  beginning  of  its  strug- 
gle for  freedom  put  to  flight  forever  that 
obnoxious  spectre.  And  it  is  among  the 
proudest  boasts  of  Catholics  that  a  libel 
on  their  loyalty  was  so  early  in  our  his- 
tory refuted  forever  by  one  who  knew 
how  to  fit  noble  words  to  noble  actions — 
George  Washington. 

The  day  known  in  New  England  as 
Pope's  day  is  known  in  Old  England  as 
Guy  Fawkes'  day.  When  we  say  a  man 
"dresses  like  a  guy,"  or  when  we  speak 
of  "guying"  a  person,  in  the  sense  of  mak- 
ing him  ridiculous,  we  are  paying  tribute 

57 


Guy  Fawkes  and  the  Church  of  England. 

to  Guy  Fawkes  and  the  effigy  which  was 
solemnly  hurned  on  the  5th  of  November. 
In  the  Established  Church  of  England 
the  day  was  a  holiday,  and  was  marked 
on  the  Calendar  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  as  the  "Papists'  Conspiracy."  The 
Anglican  clergy  were  commanded  to  give 
warning  to  the  people  on  the  Sunday  be- 
fore "for  the  due  observance  of  said  day." 
For  the  feast  "a  special  form  of  prayer 
with  thanksgiving"  was  provided.  The 
wording  of  the  petitions  offered  to  Al- 
mighty God  was  fearful  and  wonderful. 
It  was  stated  in  them  that  the  King,  the 
royal  family,  the  nobility,  clergy  and 
commons  were,  "by  Popish  treachery,  ap- 
pointed as  sheep  to  the  slaughter,  in  a 
most  barbarous  and  savage  manner  be- 
yond the  examples  of  former  ages."  They 
also  contain  many  pleasant  and  comfort- 
able expressions  about  "Popish  tyranny," 
"the  secret  contrivance  and  hellish  malice 
of  Popish  conspirators,"  "cruel  and  blood- 
thirsty Papists,"  "enemies  that  delight  in 
blood,"  and  much  more  to  the  same  effect, 

58 


A  Holiday  to  Demolish  the  Pope. 

very  edifying  to  the  pious  Protestant  wor- 
shipper and  very  conducive  to  tolerant 
and  charitable  feelings  toward  his  Catho- 
lic brother.  In  order  that  nothing  might 
be  lost  of  the  meaning  of  this  service  a 
sermon  was  preached,  in  which  Rome's 
Red  Hand  was  held  up  to  public  execra- 
tion. Of  course,  in  the  Anglican  Church, 
as  among  our  own  preachers,  there  were 
some  who  had  the  Pope  for  breakfast, 
dinner  and  supper;  but,  as  among  us,  they 
were  not  very  numerous  or  of  much  influ- 
ence. But  on  the  5th  of  November  every 
clergyman,  moderate  and  extreme,  broad 
and  narrow,  high  and  low,  tolerant  and  in- 
tolerant, good,  bad  and  indifferent,  got 
into  his  pulpit  and  demolished  Popery 
with  all  its  works  and  pomps.  In  the 
evening  there  were  popular  sports  and 
an  effigy  known  as  Guy  Fawkes  was  pa- 
raded through  the  streets  and  burned  with 
every  circumstance  of  righteous  disap- 
proval. To  be  sure,  the  small  boy  was 
the  chief  beneficiary  of  such  proceedings. 
The  firecracker  habit,  which  we  associate 

59 


Because  Protestantism  Had  Been  Saved. 

with  the  Fourth  of  July,  was  by  young 
Britons  associated  with  the  5th  of  No- 
vember. Naturally,  the  small  boy  had  not 
the  slightest  idea  of  what  it  was  all  about. 
It  was  not  at  all  clear  in  his  mind  whether 
Guy  Fawkes  was  the  Pope  or  the  devil; 
but  the  common  opinion  was  that  he  was 
a  Papist  of  some  kind,  and  the  difference 
between  the  devil  and  a  Papist  was  en- 
tirely too  small  to  notice. 

When  the  small  boy  grew  up  and  was 
able  to  understand  sermons,  he  learned 
that  the  celebration  was  a  solemn  national 
thanksgiving  for  a  great  deliverance.  The 
liberties  of  England  and  the  pure  faith 
of  Protestantism  had  been  miraculously 
preserved  from  the  Papists,  who,  as  the 
prayer  had  it,  "turn  religion  into  rebellion 
and  faith  into  faction."  He  would  be  told 
that  those  Papists  were  wicked  and  blood- 
thirsty,  and  were  consumed  with  a  deadly 
hate  of  Protestants  in  general  and  of  Brit- 
ish Protestants  in  particular.  In  fact, 
many  years  ago  they  conspired  to  blow  up 
the   King,  lords   and  commons  with  gun- 

60 


From  Hellish  Machinations  of  Papists. 

powder.  In  this  conspiracy  they  were  all 
concerned,  from  the  Pope  down  to  the 
peasant.  Moreover,  there  was  neither 
rhyme  nor  reason  for  their  attempt.  They 
had  received  no  provocation,  but  were 
driven  to  the  bloody  design  through  "pure 
cussedness."  Besides,  in  doing  so  they 
were  only  acting  according  to  the  princi- 
ples of  their  religion,  which  tells  them 
that  it  is  no  sin  to  murder  a  heretic.  In- 
deed, in  the  eyes  of  Catholics  it  is  a  most 
meritorious  act  to  overthrow  a  Protestant 
government  simply  because  it  is  Protes- 
tant. The  attempt  failed  because  God  had 
the  King  of  England  in  His  especial  keep- 
ing. Therefore,  all  loyal  Protestants  ob- 
serve the  day  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving. 
In  the  morning  the  parsons  blow  up  the 
Pope  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  the  evening  the 
small  boys  blow  up  Guy  Fawkes  in  the 
market  place  to  the  inspiring  and  patriotic 
refrain : 

Remember,  remember 
The  Fifth  of  November. 


61 


The  Common  Account  of  Gunpowder  Plot. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  text  books  of 
history  in  common  use  among  us,  we  shall 
find  the  following  account  of  the  trans- 
action which  made  the  5th  of  November 
memorable.  For  instance,  let  us  take  the 
paragraph  devoted  to  the  subject  in  that 
notoriously  sectarian  book,  "Myers'  His- 
tory," which,  in  contravention  of  the  laws 
of  California,  is  used  in  so  many  of  our 
public  schools: 

The  Gunpowder  Plot  (1605). — In 
the  third  year  of  James'  reign  was 
unearthed  one  of  the  most  fiendish 
plots  imaginable.  This  was  nothing 
less  than  a  plot  to  blow  up  with  gun- 
powder the  Parliament  building,  upon 
the  opening  day  of  the  session,  when 
King,  lords  and  commons  would 
all  be  present,  and  thus  destroy  at  a 
single  blow  every  branch  of  the  Eng- 
lish government.  This  conspiracy, 
known  as  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  was 
entered  into  by  some  Roman  Catho- 
lics, because  they  were  disappointed 
in  the  course  which  the  king  had 
taken  as  regards  their  religion.     The 

62 


As  Given  in  Ordinary  School  Histories. 

leader  of  the  conspiracy  was  Guy 
Fawkes.  Thirty-six  barrels  of  gun- 
powder were  secreted  in  the  cellars 
beneath  the  chamber  occupied  by  the 
lords,  and  then  the  conspirators  quietly 
awaited  the  assembling  of  Parliament. 
The  timely  discovery  of  the  plot  was 
brought  about  by  means  of  a  letter  of 
warning  from  one  of  the  conspirators 
to  a  Catholic  lord  (his  brother-in- 
law),  begging  him  to  absent  himself 
from  the  opening  of  Parliament. 
"God  and  man,"  ran  the  mysterious 
message,  "have  concurred  to  punish 
the  wickedness  of  this  time;  .  .  . 
for,  though  there  be  no  appearance  of 
any  stir,  yet,  I  say,  they  will  receive 
a  terrible  blow  this  Parliament,  and 
yet  they  shall  not  see  who  hurts 
them."  The  closing  lines  of  the  letter 
awakened  a  suspicion  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  plot;  the  vaults  beneath  the 
Parliament  House  were  searched,  and 
the  terrible  secret  was  discovered. 
Fawkes,  who  was  keeping  watch  of 
the  cellar,  was  arrested,  and  after 
being  put  on  the  rack,  was  executed. 
His  chief  accomplices  were  also 
seized  and  punished.    The  alarm  ere- 

63 


The  Accession  of  James  to  the  Throne. 

ated  by  the  terrible  plot  led  Parlia< 
merit  to  enact  some  very  severe  laws 
against  the  Roman  Catholics. 

This  is  substantially  the  orthodox  5th 
of  November  account  of  the  conspiracy, 
though  told  more  by  innuendo  than  by 
direct  statement.  As  the  paragraph  is 
very  general  it  may  be  well  to  go  a  little 
more  into  detail  in  order  to  get  a  clear 
idea  of  the  plot  and  of  its  results. 

In  March  of  1603  Queen  Elizabeth 
died.  She  was  succeeded  by  James,  the 
son  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots.  He  was 
James  VI.  of  Scotland,  but  is  commonly 
known  as  James  I.  of  England.  His 
mother  had  been  murdered  by  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  died  protesting  that  she 
suffered  because  of  the  Catholic  faith 
which  she  professed.  Her  son  had  been 
raised  a  Protestant  by  the  Scottish  Lords. 
The  5th  of  November,  1605,  was  a  Tues- 
day and  had  been  appointed  for  the  open- 
ing of  Parliament.  It  is  the  custom  of  the 
English    legislature   to   meet,   on   the   first 

64 


Discovery  of  Powder— Arrest  of  Fawkes. 

day  of  the  session,  in  one  room,  the  House 
of  Lords,  to  hear  the  speech  from  the 
throne.  In  King  James'  time  that  speech 
was  delivered  by  the  monarch  in  person. 
On  the  morning  of  this  first  Tuesday  in 
November,  1605,  the  city  of  London  was 
stirred  to  its  center.  The  streets  rang  with 
the  news  that  a  diabolical  plot  had  been 
discovered  in  the  course  of  the  night.  In 
a  cellar  beneath  the  House  of  Lords  an 
immense  quantity  of  gunpowder  had  been 
found.  In  the  cellar  a  man,  who  gave  the 
name  of  Johnson,  had  been  arrested. 
When  he  saw  that  the  game  was  up,  he 
frankly  acknowledged  that  he  was  there 
to  fire  the  magazine  while  the  King  was 
addressing  Parliament,  and,  with  one 
blow,  destroy  the  government.  When 
questioned,  he  doggedly  refused  to  say  who 
were  his  accomplices,  or  whether  he  had 
any. 

On  examination  it  was  found  that  John- 
son's real  name  was  Guy  Fawkes,  and  that 
the  cellar  had  been  hired  by  one  Thomas 
Percy,  a  Catholic  gentleman  and  a  connec- 

65 


The  Flight  of  the  Plotters  and  Their  Death. 

tion  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland.  It 
also  came  to  light  that  Percy,  with  sev- 
eral others,  had  fled  from  London  on 
Monday,  and  news  arrived  from  the  inte- 
rior shires  that  they  were  attempting  to  in- 
stigate a  rebellion  against  the  crown.  The 
sheriffs  of  the  various  counties  through 
which  they  passed  raised  men  immediately 
and  pursued  them.  On  Friday,  Novem- 
ber 8th,  they  were  brought  to  bay.  Four 
were  killed  or  mortally  wounded,  and  the 
others  were  brought  to  London  and  lodged 
in  the  Tower. 

On  the  day  of  the  discovery  of  the  plot, 
Parliament  met  and  immediately  set  about 
considering  measures  designed  to  insure 
the  more  effectual  execution  of  the  penal 
laws  against  Catholics.  On  the  Saturday 
of  the  same  week,  November  9th,  King 
James  made  a  speech  to  Parliament,  in 
which  he  said  that  the  plot  was  the  direct 
result  of  Catholic  principles,  for  the  Pa- 
pacy, according  to  him,  was  "the  true  mys- 
tery of  iniquity."  He  also  expressed  his 
opinion     that     "these     designs    were    not 

66 


The  King  Ascribes  Plot  to  Catholics. 

formed  by  a  few,"  that  "the  whole  legion 
of  Catholics  were  consulted,"  that  "the 
priests  were  to  pacify  their  consciences, 
and  the  Pope  confirm  a  general  absolution 
for  this  glorious  deed."  Immediately  after 
the  speech  Parliament  was  prorogued  until 
January. 

In  the  meantime  the  prisoners  were  ex- 
amined by  the  government  officials,  and 
torture  was  freely  used  to  force  them  to 
confess.  You  know  what  torture  means. 
The  unwilling  witness  was  bound  upon 
the  rack,  his  limbs  were  stretched  until  the 
bones  were  dislocated  and  the  muscles 
strained.  Red-hot  irons  seared  the  quiver- 
ing flesh  and  red-hot  pincers  tore  the  nails 
out  by  the  roots.  We  have  the  King's  di- 
rections concerning  Guy  Fawkes — "If  he 
will  not  otherwise  confess,  the  gentler  tor- 
tures are  to  be  first  used  unto  him,  and  so 
gradually  come  to  the  worst.  And  so  God 
speed  your  good  work." 

On  January  15,  1606,  a  proclamation  ap- 
peared offering  a  reward  for  the  capture 
of     three    Jesuit     priests,     John     Gerard, 

67 


How  the  Holiday  Was  Established. 

Henry  Garnet  and  Oswald  Greenway,  and 
stating  that  it  had  been  proved  that  they 
were  particularly  implicated  in  the  treason. 
On  the  21st  of  January,  Parliament  re- 
assembled and  took  up  the  work  of  the 
Penal  Laws.  Four  days  later  an  act  was 
passed  providing  for  the  observance  of  the 
anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  the  plot. 
In  that  act  the  guilt  of  the  crime  was  laid 
upon  "many  malignant  and  devilish  pa- 
pists, Jesuits  and  seminary  priests,  much 
envying  the  true  and  free  possession  of  the 
Gospel  by  the  nation,  under  the  greatest, 
most  learned  and  most  religious  monarch 
who  had  ever  occupied  the  throne." 

On  January  27th  eight  of  the  prisoners 
were  put  on  trial.  The  indictment  charged 
that  the  plot  was  contrived  by  Garnet,  Ger- 
ard, Greenway  and  other  Jesuits,  to  whose 
traitorous  persuasions  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar  had  wickedly  yielded.  They  were  all 
found  guilty,  and  four  were  executed  on 
January  30th,  and  the  others  on  January 
31st. 


68 


Arrest  and  Execution  of  the  Jesuits. 

On  the  day  the  first  batch  suffered, 
Father  Garnet  was  captured.  His  hiding 
place  had  been  known  for  nine  days  pre- 
viously, but  the  authorities  waited  till  the 
chief  conspirators  were  out  of  the  way 
before  taking  him.  With  him  was  arrested 
Father  Oldcorne,  another  Jesuit,  who  was 
never  charged  with  knowledge  of  the  plot. 
Garnet  was  examined  as  many  as  twenty- 
three  times  before  the  Council,  in  the  hope 
of  incriminating  him.  But  no  proofs  were 
ever  forthcoming  that  he  was  guilty  of 
any  complicity.  He  was  brought  to  trial 
on  March  28th,  and  on  May  3d  he  was 
hanged.  Father  Oldcorne  was  also  put  to 
death  on  the  charge  of  having  aided  and 
abetted  Garnet  in  his  attempt  to  escape.  In 
government  publications  the  Gunpowder 
conspirators  were  from  that  time  de- 
scribed as  "Garnet,  a  Jesuit,  and  his  con- 
federates." 

You  see,  therefore,  that  from  the  very 
beginning  the  Gunpowder  Plot  was 
treated  by  the  government  as  the  work 
of   the   Catholic    Church.      It  was   char- 

69 


The  Triumph  of  the  Protestant  Interests. 


acterized  as  flowing  from  Catholic  prin- 
ciples and  as  backed  by  the  priests.  If 
it  were  the  attempt  of  a  few  wild  and 
turbulent  men,  little  importance  could  be 
attached  to  it.  But  if  it  could  be  shown 
to  be  a  Catholic  plot,  approved  by 
the  Catholic  authorities,  it  immediately 
assumed  immense  proportions.  Hence, 
you  see  that  from  the  very  moment  of  its 
discovery  it  was  laid  at  the  door  of  the 
Papists.  Before  the  conspirators  could  be 
examined  it  was  attributed  to  the  priests, 
and  in  the  act  of  Parliament  by  which  the 
religious  thanksgiving  was  established  the 
opinion  was  set  forth  in  unequivocal  lan- 
guage that  the  whole  design  was  caused 
simply  and  solely  by  hatred  of  the  Protes- 
tant religion.  The  result  was  the  destruction 
of  all  hopes  of  toleration  entertained  by 
the  Catholics.  The  old  laws  were  enforced 
with  new  severity,  fresh  laws  were  enacted. 
The  Protestant  politicians,  or  that  part  of 
them  represented  by  the  government,  were 
triumphant.  A  Ghost  had  been  created, 
which  after  two  centuries  and  a  half  still 

70 


Our  Knowledge  of  the  Facts  One-Sided. 

scares  Protestants  away  from  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  charge  of  disloyalty  was 
fixed  upon  Catholics,  and  the  very  word 
Jesuit  was  entered  in  our  dictionaries  as  a 
synonym  for  treason,  craft  and  all  iniquity. 
It  is  a  very  suggestive  fact  that  our 
knowledge  of  the  trial  and  of  the  de- 
signs of  the  conspirators  comes  to  us 
from  one  source.  In  those  days  there 
were  no  enterprising  newspapers  to  con- 
duct investigations  on  their  own  responsi- 
bility and  to  spread  an  account  of  the  pro- 
ceedings in  court  broadcast  among  the  peo- 
ple. We  are  dependent  entirely  on  the 
government  officials  for  what  we  know. 
Even  in  our  days,  and  with  all  our  oppor- 
tunities, it  would  not  be  entirely  safe  to 
take  for  granted  all  that  the  law  officers 
of  the  State  might  assert.  It  is  not  an  un- 
common allegation  in  our  sensational  trials 
that  the  police  have  been  more  anxious  to 
convict  a  prisoner  than  to  discover  the 
truth.  If  such  allegations  can  be  made,  and 
by  men  of  reputation,  in  this  free  country 
where  the  light  beats  so  fiercely  on  all  pub- 

7i 


The  Official  Account  of  the  Plot. 

lie  proceedings,  we  can  well  imagine  what 
may  have  been  done  in  the  secrecy  of  the 
torture  chamber  in  a  hasty  trial  at  a  time 
when  all  documents  were  controlled  by  the 
prosecution — when  the  prosecution  meant 
a  government  determined  to  make  political 
capital  out  of  the  guilt  of  the  accused. 

From  the  official  history  we  learn  the 
following  account  of  the  progress  of  the 
plot:  James  I.  came  to  the  throne  in  1603. 
Elizabeth  had  harried  the  Catholics  until 
the  very  last,  and  only  two  months  before 
she  died  a  proclamation  ordered  all  Cath- 
olic ecclesiastics  to  leave  the  country,  under 
pain  of  death.  With  the  accession  of 
James  the  Catholics  hoped  that  at  least  the 
memory  of  his  mother  would  restrain  his 
hand.  They  did  not  petition  him  for  free- 
dom of  worship,  as  we  understand  it — all 
they  asked  was  permission  to  have  their 
worship  at  least  in  private  houses,  if  not 
with  approbation  yet  without  molestation. 
Now,  at  that  time,  every  Catholic  who  did 
not  attend  the  Protestant  church  was  fined 
twenty  pounds  a  month.     As  money  then 

72 


The  Reimposition  of  Catholic  Fines. 

was  at  least  ten  times  as  valuable  as  now,  a 
Catholic  whose  conscientious  convictions 
would  not  permit  him  to  take  part  in  the 
Anglican  service  had  to  pay  $1000  a  month 
for  his  refusal.  The  answer  which  James 
gave  to  the  Catholic  petition  was  a  promise 
not  to  exact  those  fines.  Though  only  half 
a  loaf,  it  was  better  than  no  bread,  and  the 
Catholics  were  tolerablv  content  because 
they  were  relieved  from  an  imposition 
which  was  surely  reducing  them  all  to 
beggary.  The  king's  promise  was  ob- 
served until  the  following  year.  Then,  like 
a  bolt  from  the  clear  sky,  came  a  proclama- 
tion banishing  all  priests  beyond  the  seas. 
The  order  went  forth  that  the  fines  for 
non-attendance  were  to  be  collected  at  once. 
Not  only  were  those  fines  to  be  exacted  in 
the  future,  but  the  back  dues,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  King's  word,  had  been  prac- 
tically remitted,  were  now  demanded  in  a 
lump. 

When  King  James  came  down  from 
Scotland  he  brought  with  him  his  Scotch 
Lords.  They  were  a  hungry  crowd,  and  the 

73 


Farmed  Out  to  the  Scotch  Nobles. 

feeling  between  the  English  and  the 
Scotch,  at  no  time  good,  was  now  more 
bitter  than  ever.  This  feeling  was  shared 
by  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics,  and  has 
lasted  with  much  of  its  ancient  virulence 
even  to  this  day.  Those  needy  adventurers 
from  the  North  saw  a  gold  mine  in  the 
Catholics.  James  actually  farmed  out  the 
Englishmen  who  refused  to  go  to  the  Prot- 
estant church  to  his  Scotch  followers, 
granting  them  liberty,  to  use  his  own 
words,  ato  make  profit  of  them."  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  when  Guy  Fawkes  was  under 
examination  before  the  King  and  his  Coun- 
cil he  replied  to  a  Scotch  nobleman  who 
asked  him  what  he  intended  to  do  with  all 
the  gunpowder,  "To  blow  the  Scotch  beg- 
gars back  to  their  native  mountains." 

Now,  it  was  said  that  as  soon  as  James 
broke  his  promise  certain  daring  and  reck- 
less Catholics  of  good  family  conspired  to 
get  revenge.  In  1604  Robert  Catesby  pro- 
posed a  plan  to  John  Wright  and  Thomas 
Winter  to  blow  up  their  persecutors.  Guy 
Fawkes,  who  had  seen  service  in  the  Neth- 

74 


The  Plotters  Hire  a  House  Near  Palace. 

erlands,  was  brought  over  as  a  man  likely 
to  be  of  service.  To  those  four,  three 
others,  among  whom  was  Percy,  were 
added  later,  making  the  original  number 
of  the  conspirators. 

About  the  middle  of  December,  1604, 
the  conspirators  are  said  to  have  com- 
menced operations.  The  place  where  the 
Lords  met  was  a  chamber  in  a  house  about 
fifty  feet  from  the  river  Thames.  Under 
the  chamber  was  a  room  commonly  called 
a  cellar,  but  which  was  in  reality  a  large 
room  on  the  ground  floor  on  a  level  with 
the  street.  This  room  was  usually  rented 
out.  Between  the  Parliament  house  and 
the  river  were  several  lodging  or  tenement 
houses.  One  of  these  houses  was  leased 
by  Percy  in  May,  and  in  December  it  is 
said  that  the  conspirators  began  to  dig  a 
tunnel  from  the  cellar  of  this  house,  in 
under  the  house  of  Parliament.  It  was  the 
intention  to  run  the  mine  directly  under 
the  Peers'  chamber  and  to  place  therein 
sufficient  gunpowder  to  effect  their  pur- 
pose.    They  began  their  work  on  Decem- 

75 


Begin  Tunnel  Under  House  of  Lords. 

ber  nth,  and  by  Christmas  they  had 
reached  the  foundations  of  the  Parliament 
house.  The  earth  which  was  taken  from 
the  tunnel  was  said  to  be  hidden  under  the 
turf  in  an  adjoining  garden,  and  they  pro- 
tected the  tunnel  as  they  went  with  framed 
timbers.  After  the  Christmas  holidays 
they  began  their  work  on  the  foundations, 
which  they  found  "very  hard  to  beat 
through."  From  the  beginning  of  Jan- 
uary, 1605,  t0  tne  middle  of  March  they 
worked  at  the  foundations  but  were  able 
to  get  only  half  way.  One  morning  as 
they  were  digging  they  heard  a  rushing 
noise  in  the  cellar  or  room  above  their 
heads.  Fearing  they  were  discovered  they 
sent  Fawkes  to  investigate.  He  found 
that  the  noise  proceeded  from  the  moving 
of  a  store  of  coal  which  one  Bright  was 
selling  out.  Fawkes  carefully  surveyed  the 
place  and  remarking  that  it  was  immedi- 
ately under  the  Peers'  chamber  considered 
that  it  was  just  the  place  to  fire  the  mine. 
Accordingly  he  told  Percy,  who  went  and 
hired  it.     The  tunnel  was  now  abandoned 

76 


Find  a  Cellar  and  Store  Powder. 

and  the  powder  was  transferred  to  the 
cellar.  The  barrels  were  covered  with 
firewood,  and  the  conspirators  dispersed 
to  await  the  assembling  of  Parliament, 
seven  months  afterward. 

During  this  interval  the  money  of  the 
conspirators  ran  low  and  it  became  neces- 
sary to  initiate  certain  Catholic  gentlemen 
of  fortune  into  the  plot.  One  of  these, 
Francis  Tresham,  was  brother-in-law  of 
Lord  Monteagle,  a  Catholic  peer,  who 
would  attend  the  opening  of  Parliament. 

On  the  26th  of  October,  ten  days  be- 
fore the  famous  5th  of  November,  Lord 
Monteagle  received  an  anonymous  letter 
in  which  he  was  warned  "to  devise  some 
excuse  to  shift  your  attendance  at  this  Par- 
liament; for  God  and  man  hath  concurred 
to  punish  the  wickedness  of  this  time." 
Monteagle  took  the  letter  to  Salisbury, 
who  was  then  what  we  would  now  call 
Prime  Minister.  Salisbury  kept  the  letter 
for  several  days,  and  finally,  about  the 
end  of  the  month,  he  showed  it  to  King 
James.     James  interpreted  it  to  mean  that 

77 


Letter  Warning  Lord  Monteagle. 

it  was  proposed  to  blow  up  Parliament 
with  gunpowder.  The  act  of  Parliament 
which  established  the  5th  of  November  as 
a  holiday,  says  that  the  treason  "would 
have  turned  to  utter  ruin  of  this  whole 
kingdom  had  it  not  pleased  Almighty  God 
by  inspiring  the  King's  most  excellent  maj- 
esty with  a  divine  spirit  to  discover  some 
dark  phrases  in  a  letter."  Still  nothing 
was  done  by  the  government  until  the 
night  of  the  4th  of  November,  when  a 
guard  was  sent  to  search  the  room  under 
the  Lords'  chamber,  and  there  Guy 
Fawkes  was  found  and  the  gunpowder,  as 
I  have  already  described. 

This  is  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the 
plot  as  given  in  the  evidence  published 
by  the  government,  which  evidence  is  our 
sole  source  of  information.  It  is  an  ex- 
traordinary story  and  deserves  careful 
examination.  Of  course,  within  the  limits 
of  a  lecture  like  this  it  would  be  weari- 
some and  confusing  to  go  minutely  into 
the  evidence.  But  there  are  certain 
broad    features   of    the   transaction   which 

78 


Loyalty  a  Virtue,  But  With  Limits. 

deserve  notice,  and  to  present  them  will 
not,  I  hope,  be  too  severe  a  strain  on  your 
attention. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  you  will  remem- 
ber that  when  Parliament  was  forming 
the  great  Ghost  which  was  to  frighten 
future  ages,  the  guilt  of  the  plot  was  laid 
at  the  door  of  the  Catholics.  Popes, 
priests,  Jesuits  and  all,  were  at  the  bottom 
of  it,  and  they  had  no  reason  in  the  world 
except  an  ungodly  hatred  of  the  Protestant 
religion. 

Now,  I  am  far  from  justifying  such  a 
crime  as  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  but  I  am 
just  as  far  from  justifying  King  James  and 
his  ministers.  Loyalty  is  a  virtue  incul- 
cated by  the  Church,  but  loyalty  has  its 
limits.  A  government  exists  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  governed,  not  for  the  benefit  of 
the  governors.  To  a  good  government, 
or  even  to  a  half  decent  government,  we 
are  bound  by  the  law  of  God  to  be  obedi- 
ent, not  because  we  are  afraid  of  the  gov- 
ernment, but  because  of  God's  law.  To  a 
bad  government  no  man   is  bound   to  be 

79 


Plots  and  Rebellions  in  Sixteenth  Century. 

loyal.    On  that  doctrine  the  fathers  of  the 
United  States  took  their  stand,  and  on  that 
doctrine    every    American    citizen    stands 
I  with  them. 

In  the  days  of  James  I.  things  were  far 
different  from  what  they  are  now.  There 
was  no  popular  government  in  the  proper 
sense  of  the  term.  Parliament  met  and 
began  to  show  some  signs  of  political 
freedom;  but  Parliament  was  still  a  crea- 
tion of  rotten  boroughs  and  had  not  in 
the  early  years  of  King  James'  reign  re- 
covered from  the  despotism  of  Henry 
VIII.  and  Elizabeth.  In  our  times  politi- 
cal changes  are  effected  by  a  campaign 
among  the  people  and  a  victory  at  the 
ballot  box;  in  James'  time  political 
changes  were  effected  by  plots  and  rebel- 
lions. In  the  time  of  Queen  Mary  of 
England  the  English  Protestants  had 
risen  twice,  but  unsuccessfully.  In 
the  time  of  Queen  Mary  of  Scotland 
the  Presbyterians  were  in  a  condition 
of  chronic  rebellion  and  succeeded.  The 
conspirators    might    well    have    called    to 

80 


Persecutions  Under  Bloody  Elizabeth. 

James'  memory  the  fact  that  his  father 
had  perished  in  a  successful  gunpowder 
plot  engineered  by  the  leaders  of  the 
Scotch  Presbyterians.  Hence  when  we 
read  of  rebellion  in  those  days  we  must 
judge  of  it  according  to  the  standard  of 
those  days,  and  instead  of  condemning  it 
in  the  abstract  and  merely  as  rebellion, 
let  us  ask  ourselves,  was  there  any  provo- 
cation for  it? 

As  we  have  seen,  the  great  Protestant 
tradition  had  it  that  there  was  no  reason 
whatever  except  the  ingrained  disloyalty 
of  Catholics  towards  a  Protestant  govern- 
ment.   Let  us  see  what  are  the  facts. 

When  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne 
after  the  death  of  her  sister,  Mary,  in 
1558,  or  nearly  half  a  century  before  the 
Gunpowder  plot,  she  began  to  root  out  the 
old  religion  with  fire  and  sword.  Since 
the  days  when  the  might  of  the  Roman 
Empire  was  warring  with  the  infant 
Church  there  was  never  such  a  persecu- 
tion. During  the  whole  of  Elizabeth's 
reign  the  rack  seldom  stood  idle  and  the 

81 


Newman  Describes  the  Martyrs'  Pains. 


ax  was  glutted  with  blood.  All  priests 
were  comprehended  under  a  general  sen- 
tence of  death,  and  those  who  aided  them 
were  felons,  whose  end  was  the  halter  or 
imprisonment  for  life.  To  wear  an  Agnus 
Dei,  a  little  piece  of  wax  stamped  with 
the  figure  of  a  lamb  to  remind  us  of  the 
Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sins 
of  the  world,  was  punishable  by  outlawry, 
forfeiture  of  all  goods  and  chattels  to  the 
Queen  and  imprisonment  for  life. 

Nor  has  this  prohibition  been  at 
all  times  an  empty  menace.  The  pos- 
session of  an  Agnus  Dei  was  the  fore- 
most charge  in  the  indictment  brought 
against  the  first  of  our  Martyrs 
among  Missionary  priests  in  the  reign 
of  bloody  Elizabeth.  "As  soon  as  the 
Sheriff  came  into  the  chamber,"  say 
the  Acts  of  the  martyrdom  of  Cuth- 
bert  Maine,  "he  took  Mr.  Maine  by 
the  bosom  and  said  to  him,  What  art 
thou?  He  answered,  I  am  a  man. 
Whereat  the  Sheriff,  being  very  hot, 
asked  if  he  had  a  coat  of  mail  under 
his  doublet;  and  so  unbuttoned  it 
and  found  an  Agnus  Dei  case  about 

82 


Racked,   Hanged,  Cut  Down,   Emboweled. 

his  neck,  which  he  took  from  him, 
and  called  him  traitor,  rebel,  with 
many  other  opprobrious  names." 
Maine  was  hanged,  cut  down  alive, 
falling  from  a  great  height,  and  then 
quartered.  He  was  the  first  fruit  of 
a  sanguinary  persecution  which  lasted 
a  hundred  years.  John  Wilson,  while 
they  tore  out  his  heart,  said,  "I  for- 
give the  Queen,  and  all  that  are  the 
cause  of  my  death."  Edward  Cam- 
pion was  cruelly  torn  and  rent  upon 
the  rack  at  divers  times.  "Before 
he  went  to  the  rack  he  used  to  fall 
down  at  the  rack-house  door,  upon 
both  knees,  to  commend  himself  to 
God's  mercy;  and  upon  the  rack 
he  called  continuously  upon  God, 
repeating  often  the  holy  name  of 
Jesus.  His  keeper  asked  him  the 
next  day  how  he  felt  his  hands 
and  feet,  he  answered,  'Not  ill,  be- 
cause not  at  all.'  He  was  hanged 
and  emboweled  at  Tyburn."  Ralph 
Sherwin  came  next;  the  hangman 
taking  hold  of  him  with  his  bloody 
hands  which  had  been  busy  with  the 
bowels  of  the  martyred  priest  who 
preceded  him,  said  to  him,   thinking 

83 


Needles  Thrust  Under  His  Nails. 

tc  terrify  him,  "Come,  Sherwin,  take 
thou  also  thy  wages."  But  the  holy 
man,  nothing  dismayed,  embraced 
him  with  a  cheerful  countenance,  and 
reverently  kissed  the  blood  that  stuck 
to  his  hands;  at  which  the  people 
were  much  moved.  He  had  been 
twice  racked,  and  now  he  was  dealt 
with  as  his  brother  before  him. 
Thomas  Sherwood,  after  six  months' 
imprisonment  in  a  dark  and  filthy 
hole,  was  hanged,  cut  down  alive,  dis- 
membered, boweled  and  quartered. 
Alexander  Brian  had  needles  thrust 
under  his  nails,  was  torn  upon  the 
rack,  hanged  and  beheaded.  George 
Haydock  was  suffered  to  hang  but  a 
very  little  while,  when  the  Sheriff  or- 
dered the  rope  to  be  cut,  and  the 
whole  butchery  to  be  performed  upon 
him  while  he  was  alive  and  perfectly 
sensible.  John  Finch  was  dragged 
through  the  streets,  his  head  beating 
all  the  way  upon  the  stones;  was  then 
thrust  in  a  dark  and  fetid  dungeon, 
with  no  bed  but  the  damp  floor;  was 
fed  sparingly,  and  on  nothing  but 
oxen's  liver.  Here  he  was  left  first 
for  weeks,   then   for  months;    till   at 

84 


Laity  Persecuted  as  Well  as  Priests. 

length  he  was  hanged,  and  his  quar- 
ters sent  to  the  four  chief  towns  of 
Lancashire.  Richard  White,  being 
cut  down  alive,  pronounced  the  sa- 
cred name  of  Jesus  twice,  while  the 
hangman  had  his  hands  in  his  bowels. 
James  Claxton  was  first  put  into  the 
little  ease,  that  is,  a  place  where  he 
could  neither  stand,  lie,  nor  sit;  there 
he  was  for  three  days  fed  on  bread 
and  water.  Then  he  was  put  into 
the  mill  to  grind;  then  he  was  hanged 
up  by  the  hands,  till  the  blood  sprang 
forth  at  his  finger  ends;  at  length 
he  was  hanged,  dying  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years. — Newman  s  Present 
Position  of  Catholics. 

But  the  clergy  were  not  the  only  suf- 
ferers. It  was  death  to  reconcile  any  one 
to  the  Catholic  Church;  it  was  outlawry 
to  hear  Mass,  to  receive  the  Sacraments,  to 
educate  children  as  Catholics,  to  wear  or 
possess  rosaries  or  crosses.  To  refuse  to 
acknowledge  the  Queen's  spiritual  pri- 
macy or  to  attend  the  Protestant  services 
was  punished  with  fine  and  imprisonment. 
In  the  twentieth  year  of  Elizabeth's  reign 

8s 


Rich  and  Poor  Equally  Plundered. 

we  read  of  a  certain  Elinore  Brome,  wife 
of  Sir  Christopher  Brome,  who  was  con- 
victed of  a  felony  and  punished  as  a  felon 
for  wearing  an  Agnus  Dei  sent  to  her  by 
her  sister.  In  1596  the  prisons  of  York 
were  filled  with  those  who  refused  to 
consider  Elizabeth  the  head  of  the 
Church,  and  eleven  were  executed,  three 
priests  and  eight  laymen. 

The  fines  were  levied  unsparingly  both 
on  the  rich  and  the  poor.  At  first  non- 
attendance  at  Protestant  service  was  pun- 
ished by  a  fine  of  one  shilling  a  Sunday, 
but  it  was  soon  raised,  as  I  have  already 
said,  to  twenty  pounds  a  month.  After- 
wards men  were  made  to  pay  ten  pounds 
for  their  Catholic  wives,  ten  pounds  for 
their  children  and  ten  pounds  for  their 
servants,  and,  in  order  to  squeeze  them 
to  the  last  drop,  thirteen  months  were 
counted  in  the  year.  Those  who  were  un- 
able to  pay  were  stripped  of  their  goods. 
Coverlets  and  blankets  were  taken  from 
the  beds  in  the  cottages,  nay,  the  very 
beds   themselves,   the   furniture,   the  cloth 

86 


Homes  Broken  Into  Day  and  Night. 

the  people  had  spun  for  the  winter  cloth- 
ing for  their  children,  were  seized.  The 
food  that  was  cooking  on  the  fire  was 
poured  away,  and  the  pot  or  pan  was 
carried  off  by  the  Queen's  officers.  In  one 
list  of  those  who  refused  to  go  to  the 
Protestant  services,  2,000  names  are  writ- 
ten, and  of  those  all  but  fifty  were  of  the 
middle  class  and  the  poor.  In  one  year, 
in  the  city  of  York  alone,  1,000  were  in- 
dicted; in  Lancashire,  600;  in  various 
other  counties  over  6,000.  In  Hereford 
409  families  were  reduced  to  beggary. 
Those  whose  means  permitted  fled  over 
seas,  but  the  vast  majority  were  compelled 
by  circumstances  to  remain  at  home  and 
either  suffer  beggary,  imprisonment  and 
even  death,  or  else  sell  their  souls. 

Add  to  this  that  the  privacy  of  the  home 
was  liable  to  be  broken  at  any  time  of  the 
day  or  night  by  the  officers  of  the  law, 
who  were  empowered  to  make  search  for 
objectionable  persons  or  for  superstitious 
objects.  These  officers  of  the  law  were 
notorious  scoundrels,  who  made  a  living 

87 


Whole  Villages  Sacked  and  Spoiled. 

by  plundering  Catholics.  The  doors 
were  burst  open,  the  sick  dragged  out  of 
their  beds,  the  beds  ripped  to  pieces,  the 
flooring  torn  up,  the  walls  pierced,  locks 
forced,  closets,  drawers,  coffers,  rifled. 
Scarcely  a  night  passed,  we  have  it  on  con- 
temporary authority,  even  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  London,  but  soldiers  and  catch- 
poles  broke  into  quiet  men's  houses  and 
stole  everything  they  could  lay  their  hands 
on  and  carried  off  the  unfortunate  Cath- 
olic householder  to  prison  unless  a  bribe 
large  enough  were  forthcoming. 

The  monotony  of  assaults  on  individuals 
was  varied  by  raids  on  a  more  extensive 
scale.  Whole  villages  were  suddenly  sur- 
rounded and  sacked.  The  Catholics  fled 
to  the  woods,  and  the  Protestant  preachers 
who  usually  led  such  "drives"  plundered 
at  their  own  sweet  will.  Death  itself  was 
a  relief  when  compared  with  imprison- 
ment. The  jails  were  filthy  holes,  full  of 
vermin  and  disease.  Out  of  fifty-eight 
persons    at   one    time    imprisoned    by    the 


88 


Provocation  Enough  for  Powder  Plot. 


Archbishop  of  York  for  refusing  the  test 
oath,  forty  died  in  prison. 

I  recall  those  things  not  to  create  bad 
feeling.  Thank  God  those  times  are  past 
and  gone.  I  present  you  with  this  faint 
picture  of  the  reality  so  that  you  may 
answer  for  yourselves  the  question:  Sup- 
pose all  the  Catholics  did  conspire  to  blow 
up  the  King,  did  they  not  have  provoca- 
tion? Would  it  be  any  wonder  if  a  small 
knot  of  men,  suffering  from  such  laws  as 
those,  would  be  driven  by  their  despair 
to  the  wild  justice  of  revenge?  It  is  neces- 
sary to  invoke  the  supposition  that  it  was 
hatred  of  the  Protestant  faith  and  of  the 
liberty  of  the  Gospel  which  nerved  the 
conspirators  to  that  daring  which  is  the 
last  refuge  of  the  wretched.  Of  course 
the  design  was  terrible,  was  diabolical,  if 
you  will.  Let  those  who  wish  to  dwell 
on  the  appalling  results  of  the  explosion 
do  so  if  they  please:  but  it  is  only  com- 
mon justice  to  dwell  also  on  the  provoca- 
tion. The  persecution  was  more  diaboli- 
cal, more  terrible  than  the  plot,  because 

89 


We  Do  Not  Praise  and  We  Do  Not  Blame. 

there  was  no  reason  whatsoever,  except 
greed  and  politics,  for  the  persecution;  as 
incentives  to  the  plot  were  the  mangled 
limbs  of  the  martyrs,  the  father  rotting  in 
the  dungeon,  the  wife  and  children  starv- 
ing in  the  beggared  home.  If  it  were 
true  that  all  the  Catholics  had  conspired 
to  end  their  oppression  by  one  dread 
blow,  let  those  who  have  no  sympathy  for 
the  injured,  let  those  who  have  no  indig- 
nation against  wrong,  let  the  enemies  of 
justice  and  the  friends  of  tyrants  blame 
them — we  cannot  praise  them,  but  neither 
do  we  blame. 

But  is  it  true  that  the  Catholics  of  Eng- 
land had  a  part  in  the  conspiracy?  From 
the  very  beginning  the  government  strained 
every  nerve  to  connect  the  plot  with 
the  whole  Catholic  body.  Although  there 
was  absolutely  no  evidence  forthcoming, 
the  public  utterances  of  the  King  and  his 
ministers  stamped  it  as  the  Papist  conspir- 
acy. The  tradition  was  founded,  the 
Ghost  walked  abroad.  But  lies  cannot  last 
forever.     Even  those  who  believe  in  the 

90 


Gardiner  Exculpates  Catholic  Body. 

reality  of  the  plot  attribute  it  to  a  hand- 
ful of  hotheads.  In  the  very  latest  book 
published  on  the  subject,  "What  Gun- 
powder Plot  Was,"  the  author,  Professor 
Gardiner,  a  Protestant,  speaks  the  follow- 
ing weighty  words: 

No  candid  persons,  indeed,  can  feel 
surprise  that  any  English  Roman 
Catholic,  especially  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic priest,  should  feel  anxious  to  wipe 
away  the  reproach  which  the  plot  has 
brought  upon  those  who  share  his 
faith.  Not  merely  were  his  spiritual 
predecessors  subjected  to  a  persecu- 
tion borne  with  the  noblest  and  least 
self-assertive  constancy,  simply  in  con- 
sequence of  what  is  now  known  to 
all  historical  students  to  have  been 
the  entirely  false  charge  that  the  plot 
emanated  from,  or  was  approved  by 
the  English  Roman  Catholics  as  a 
body,  but  this  false  belief  prevailed 
so  widely  that  it  must  have  hindered, 
to  no  slight  extent,  the  spread  of  that 
organization  which  he  regards  as  hav- 
ing been  set  forth  by  divine  institu- 
tion for  the  salvation  of  mankind. 


9i 


The  Charge  That  the  Priests  Approved. 


This  opinion,  from  one  of  the  most 
eminent  of  English  historians,  should 
sweep  awav  forever  the  charge  that  the 
plot  was  the  work  of  the  Catholic  com- 
munity. It  is  a  clear,  frank  acknowledg- 
ment that,  though  the  Catholics  were  so 
sorely  tried,  they  were  guiltless  of  the 
charge  so  pertinaciously  brought  against 
them.  What  George  Washington  accom- 
plished for  America  let  us  hope  that  the 
words  of  Professor  Gardiner  shall  accom- 
plish for  the  whole  English-speaking 
world. 

But  there  remains  a  further  charge,  that 
if  the  body  of  English  Catholics  did  not 
approve  of  the  plot,  at  least  their  spiritual 
advisers  did.  You  will  remember  that 
after  the  discovery  both  King  and  Parlia- 
ment attributed  it  to  the  priests.  The 
preamble  to  the  Act  establishing  the  5th 
of  November  as  a  holiday  declares  that 
it  was  the  work  of  many  malignant  and 
devilish  Papists,  Jesuits  and  seminary 
priests.  One  Jesuit,  Father  Garnet,  was 
found  guilty  and  executed;   another  Jesuit 

92 


The  Seminary  Priests  and  the  Jesuits. 

suffered  the  death  penalty  for  attempting 
to  help  his  brother  in  religion  to  escape. 

To  understand  the  terms  used  here,  it 
may  be  well  to  state  that  in  Elizabeth's 
time  the  old  Catholic  clergy  of  England 
began  to  die  out.  The  Catholic  Bishops 
had  been  imprisoned,  and  there  was  no 
one  to  take  the  place  of  the  disappearing 
pastors.  Of  course,  it  was  absolutely  im- 
possible, because  of  the  persecution,  to 
train  up  priests  in  England,  so  Cardinal 
Allen,  an  Englishman,  established  a  sem- 
inary or  college  at  Douay,  to  which  young 
Englishmen  might  repair.  When  they 
were  ordained  they  returned  to  England, 
carrying  their  lives  in  their  hands.  The 
Jesuit  Order,  which  had  been  founded  in 
1540,  now  began  to  attract  some  of  the 
English  scholars  who  had  been  driven 
from  Oxford.  They,  too,  came  back  to 
their  native  land.  The  Douay  priests 
were  known  as  missionary  or  seminary 
priests,  and  together  with  the  Jesuits  they 
went  up  and  down  the  country,  encourag- 
ing the  weak,  firing  the  zeal  of  the  con- 

93 


The  Charge  Against  the  Three  Jesuits. 

stant  and  restoring  thousands  who  had 
fallen  away.  Their  success  made  them 
objects  of  the  special  hatred  of  the  Protes- 
tant party,  and  this  is  the  reason  for  the 
anxiety  shown  by  the  government  to  con- 
nect them  with  the  Gunpowder  Plot. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  three  Jesuit 
priests — Gerard,  Garnet  and  Greenway — 
were  denounced  in  a  proclamation  as 
"peculiar  practicers"  in  the  treason.  One 
of  them,  Garnet,  was  caught  and  exe- 
cuted. The  conspirators  were  said  to 
have  bound  themselves  by  a  solemn  oath 
to  carry  out  their  design.  Afterward,  to 
make  their  vow  more  solemn,  they  re- 
ceived Holy  Communion.  At  the  trial, 
Coke,  the  Attorney-General,  told  the  jury 
that  this  oath  was  administered  by  Father 
Gerard.  If  this  were  true  the  guilt  of 
the  Jesuits  would  be  beyond  question. 
Coke  held  the  confessions  extorted  from 
the  prisoners  on  the  rack,  and  therefore 
pretended  to  speak  by  the  book.  Fortu- 
nately the  text  used  by  Coke  has  come 
down  to  us.     It  is  Fawkes'  description  of 

94 


Attorney-General  Suppresses  Evidence. 

the  beginning  of  the  conspiracy.  It  states 
that  the  original  plotters  met  in  a  room 
apart  and  took  the  oath.  They  then  went 
into  another  room,  where  they  heard  Mass 
and  received  the  sacrament  from  Father 
Gerard.  Then  followed  the  words,  "But 
he  saith  that  Gerard  was  not  acquainted 
with  their  purpose." 

As  I  have  said,  we  have  a  copy  of  the 
confession  used  by  the  Attorney-General. 
The  government's  plan  was,  by  hook  or 
by  crook,  to  incriminate  the  Jesuits.  We 
find,  by  an  examination  of  the  manuscript, 
that  when  Coke  came  to  the  statement, 
"Gerard  was  not  acquainted  with  their 
purpose,"  he  marked  it  off  with  red  ink 
and  wrote  on  the  margin,  "Thus  far,"  as  a 
sign  that  the  evidence  which  would  clear 
the  priest  should  not  be  read.  This  is 
only  one  specimen  of  the  wholesale  and 
systematic  falsification  of  the  evidence 
which  the  government  committed  in  order 
to  make  a  case. 

Two  days  after  the  plot  was  discovered, 
the    archpriest    of    the    English    Catholics 

95 


Catholic  Authorities  Condemn  Plot. 

published  an  address  to  his  co-religion- 
ists, in  which  he  speaks  of  the  conspiracy 
as  aan  intolerable,  uncharitable,  scandal- 
ous and  desperate  fact,"  "a  detestable  de- 
vice"; he  declared  that  "without  most 
grievous  offense  of  God  and  Holy  Church, 
private  violent  attempts  cannot  be  thought 
of,  much  less  aided  or  maintained  by 
Catholics." 

More  than  this,  we  know  that  in  1604 
James  was  in  communication  with  the 
Pope.  As  you  remember,  there  was  high 
hope  that  when  James  came  to  the  throne 
he  would  at  least  give  toleration  to  the 
Catholics.  The  communications  with 
Rome  were  on  this  subject  and  had  for 
their  obiect  some  sort  of  a  mutual  accom- 
modation.  The  negotiations  came  to  noth- 
ing in  the  end,  but  they  had  this  one  re- 
sult that  strict  letters  were  sent  to  the 
Jesuits  and  missionary  priests  warning 
them  to  discountenance  all  disloyal  prac- 
tices and  to  prevent,  as  far  as  they  could, 
disturbances  against  the  government.  This 
policy  was  kept  up  even  when  the  penal 

96 


What  Was  the  True  Inwardness  of  the  Plot? 

laws  were  put  in  force  again,  the  policy 
of  the  Catholics  being  expressed  in  the 
words  of  the  archpriest,  that  "our  quiet 
behavior  may  procure  a  mitigation  of  our 
troubles." 

But  the  tiger  had  tasted  blood.  Little 
did  the  heads  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
England  know  of  the  wickedness  of  those 
who  would  exterminate  their  religion.  We 
have  seen  that  the  vast  body  of  the  Eng- 
lish Catholics  had  no  connection  with  the 
plot;  we  have  seen  that  the  missionary 
priests  and  Jesuits  were  guiltless.  We  now 
come  to  the  most  interesting  question  of 
all,  "What  was  the  true  inwardness  of  the 
plot  itself?" 

Elizabeth  was  the  last  of  her  house. 
When  she  died  the  family  of  Henry 
VIII.  came  to  an  end.  The  question  of 
her  successor,  therefore,  was  one  of  great 
anxiety  to  the  politicians  who  held  power 
under  her.  In  those  days  the  notion  of 
hereditary  succession  was  not  as  clear  as 
now.  It  was  complicated  by  Acts  of  Par- 
liament excluding  various    families    from 

97 


Elizabeth  and  the  Protestant  Interest. 

the  crown,  and  the  will  of  the  preceding 
sovereign  counted  for  much  in  the  choice- 
During  Elizabeth's  time  her  own  title  was 
questioned.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Anne 
Boleyn,  born  during  the  life  of  Henry's 
first  wife,  Catherine  of  Arragon.  The  di- 
vorce of  Henry  from  Catherine  was  pro- 
nounced by  the  Reformers;  if  she  wished 
to  uphold  her  legitimacy  she  should  uphold 
the  Reformation.  On  her  accession,  there- 
fore, she  surrounded  herself  with  the  Prot- 
estant politicians  and  strove  in  every  way 
she  could  to  crush  out  Catholicism. 

The  most  formidable  competitor  for  the 
crown  during  Elizabeth's  reign  was  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots.  If  Elizabeth  were  illegiti- 
mate, Mary  was  the  rightful  queen.  She, 
however,  was  an  ardent  Catholic;  the 
whole  Protestant  party  was  united  against 
her.  When  Elizabeth  at  last  got  Mary  in 
her  power  she  put  an  end  to  her  preten- 
sions by  sending  her  to  the  block. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  those  times 
we  hear  much  of  plots,  conspiracies  and 
treason.    One  of  the  commonest  devices  of 

98 


How  Mary's  Death  Was  Brought  About. 

the  government  was  to  set  its  agents  creat- 
ing a  plot  and  then  at  the  proper  hour 
discover  it.  For  a  long  time  Elizabeth 
shrank  from  the  crime  of  murdering  her 
cousin,  the  Scottish  Queen.  Her  minis- 
ters, however,  knew  how  to  overcome  her 
scruples.  A  plot  was  contrived  into  which 
several  young  Catholics  were  inveigled. 
The  object  of  the  plot  was  to  kill  Eliza- 
beth, and  to  seat  Mary  on  the  English 
throne.  Now  we  know  that  the  ministers 
were  well  acquainted  with  this  plot.  All 
the  letters  between  the  conspirators  passed 
through  their  hands.  At  the  moment  they 
judged  opportune  the  plot  was  discovered 
and  the,,  papers  laid  before  Elizabeth.  The 
result  was  Mary's  death.  During  the  rest 
of  the  reign  we  are  constantly  hearing  of 
plots.  Of  them  an  acute  French  writer 
remarked  that,  no  matter  by  whom  they 
were  concocted,  thev  all  had  this  in  com- 
mon, they  were  extremely  beneficial  to 
those  against  whom  they  were  directed. 

The  chief   minister   during  the   closing 
years  of  Elizabeth  was  Robert  Cecil,  Lord 

99 


The  Candidates  for  the  English  Crown. 

Salisbury.  He  was  of  the  Protestant  in- 
terest, was  very  bitter  toward  Catholics, 
and  depended  for  his  power  on  keeping 
the  Protestant  party  in  office.  His  char- 
acter has  been  described  by  historians 
with  a  singular  unanimity.  He  was  a  man 
utterly  devoid  of  truth  or  morality.  While 
the  minister  of  Elizabeth,  he  was  secretly 
intriguing  with  James,  and  while  the 
minister  of  James  he  was  in  receipt  ot  a 
pension  from  the  King  of  Spain  for  be- 
traying State  secrets. 

The  candidates  for  the  crown  at  the 
death  of  Elizabeth  were  the  son  of  the 
King  of  Spain,  Arabella  Stuart,  and 
James,  King  of  Scotland.  The  Spanish 
claim  was  favored  by  the  extreme  Catho- 
lics; Arabella  Stuart's  claim  was  favored 
by  the  extreme  Protestants.  But  the  vast 
body  of  the  Catholics  had  the  national 
antipathy  to  Spain  and  hoped  that  the  son 
of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  would  at  least 
tolerate  his  mother's  religion.  Salisbury, 
though  of  the  Protestant  interest,  was  not 
favorable  to  the  claims  of  Arabella  Stuart. 

ioo 


James  of  Scotland  a  Compromise. 

Her  friends,  especially  the  famous  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  were  his  enemies,  and  his 
one  object  in  life  was  to  keep  his  own 
place  secure.  Therefore  it  was  that  long 
before  Elizabeth's  death  he  entered  into 
correspondence  with  James,  and  when  his 
time  came  he  was  able  to  swing  his  party 
into  line  for  the  King  of  Scots.  James 
was  therefore  a  compromise  candidate, 
and  the  Catholics  naturally  looked  to  him 
for  some  relief  from  the  penal  laws.  When 
he  ascended  the  throne  he  began  to  show 
some  signs  of  tolerance,  and  in  reply  to  a 
Catholic  deputation  he  promised  to  remit 
the  fines  for  non-attendance  at  the  Protes- 
tant service. 

Having  thus  secured  the  "machine," 
Salisbury  turned  the  machinery  to  make 
his  own  position  secure.  His  government 
was  a  government  of  spies  and  informers. 
If  we  wish  to  get  a  good  idea  of  it,  let 
us  look  to  the  English  methods  still  prac- 
ticed in  Ireland.  Informers  abound.  Not 
only  do  they  get  into  secret  societies  to 
betray  them,  but  they  establish  secret  so- 

IOI 


Salisbury  and  the  Catholic  Growth. 

cieties  in  order  to  have  something  to  be- 
tray. That  Salisbury  was  an  adept  in  this 
system  of  statecraft  all  historians  acknow- 
ledge. We  are,  therefore,  not  surprised 
to  read  that  a  plot  to  dethrone  King 
James  was  discovered  in  1603,  tne  Year  °f 
the  King's  accession.  Raleigh  was  found 
guilty  of  complicity,  and  his  subsequent 
imprisonment  rendered  him  harmless  to 
Salisbury. 

But  the  Catholic  party  remained;  and 
the  Catholic  party  was  increasing  by  leaps 
and  bounds.  The  result  of  the  promise 
made  by  James  to  remit  the  fines  was 
startling.  In  one  year  ten  thousand  Prot- 
estants returned  to  the  old  faith,  out  of 
which  they  had  been  harried  in  Eliza- 
beth's reign.  The  situation  was  becoming 
desperate.  If  conversions  should  continue 
at  this  rate,  the  place  which  Salisbury 
had  built  up  for  himself  on  the  foundation 
of  Protestantism  would  soon  fall  to  the 
ground.  Unless  the  growth  of  Catholi- 
cism could  be  stopped,  Salisbury's  ambi- 
tion was  doomed.     To  prevent  this  alarm- 

102 


Turns  James  Against  the  Puritans. 

ing  defection  in  the  ranks  of  Protestantism 
now  became  the  aim  of  a  man  who  knew 
no  scruple  when  his  personal  aims  were  to 
be  attained. 

The  first  lever  he  used  was  the  Puri- 
tans. As  you  know,  Protestantism  is  not 
one  coherent  system  of  religion.  Its  basis 
is  denial  of  or  protest  against  Catholicism. 
But  all  Protestants  do  not  deny  the  same 
doctrines  or  the  same  number  of  doctrines. 
Some  deny  one,  some  two,  some  three,  and 
so  on  until  you  reach  those  who  deny  all. 
As  it  is  to-day,  so  it  was  in  the  days  of 
King  James.  There  were  two  great  par- 
ties among  the  Protestants,  some  protest- 
ing against  more  and  some  protesting 
against  less.  The  section  which  protested 
against  more  was  known  as  the  Puritan 
party.  They  did  not  believe  in  ceremonies, 
or  in  surplices,  or  in  making  the  Sign  of 
the  Cross,  or  in  a  fixed  form  of  prayer, 
or  in  church  government  by  Bishops. 
James  had  a  special  hatred  for  the  Puri- 
tans. He  declared  that  since  he  was  a 
child   they  had  made  his   life  miserable; 

103 


Demands  Same  Measures  for  Catholics. 

he  expressed  his  opinion  of  their  aversion 
to  the  episcopacy  in  the  words,  aNo 
Bishop,  no  king,"  and  it  was  more  than 
suspected  that  their  preferences  lay  not 
with  him,  but  with  the  other  claimant,  Ara- 
bella Stuart. 

It  was  easy,  therefore,  to  turn  the  King 
against  the  Puritans  and  to  induce  him  to 
execute  the  laws  which  demanded  con- 
formity with  the  Established  Church.  No 
sooner  had  he  done  so  than  Salisbury  took 
advantage  of  the  fact  to  remind  him  that 
he  should  be  just  and  demand  from  Catho- 
lics what  he  asked  from  Puritans.  So  well 
did  the  minister  press  his  point,  that  in 
1604  was  issued  the  proclamation  banish- 
ing the  priests,  and  soon  the  collection  of 
fines  gave  the  King  an  easy  method  of 
recompensing  his  Scottish  followers.  But, 
Salisbury  was  not  satisfied  with  this  step. 
The  Catholics  were  numerous;  some  of  the 
great  noblemen  favored  them.  One  espe- 
cially, the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  was 
Salisbury's  rival.  The  King  might  change 
his  mind.    A  new  policy  would  mean  new 

104 


The  Dramatic  Discovery  of  Powder. 

advisers.  It  was  necessary  to  clinch  the 
matter,  once  for  all.  Turn  back  the  Cath- 
olic tide,  and  the  fortunes  of  the  house  of 
Cecil  would  be  secure.  When,  therefore, 
we  ask  the  question,  What  was  the  true 
inwardness  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  there 
is  a  strong  antecedent  probability  that  a 
scheme  which  was  of  such  benefit  to  Salis- 
bury may  not  have  been  concocted  with- 
out Salisbury's  superintendence. 

And,  indeed,  when  we  come  to  examine 
the  story,  we  are  met  with  some  extraor- 
dinary questions. 

The  discovery  of  the  plot  was  dramatic. 
The  night  before  Parliament  met  the  gun- 
powder was  found.  The  people  were  told 
that  only  a  special  providence  had  saved 
the  government.  So  secretly  had  the  Pa- 
pists worked  that  their  design  had  all  but 
succeeded. 

This  dramatic  situation  was  intensified 
by  the  story  of  the  mine.  If  they  had 
been  able  to  carry  out  their  first  designs, 
nothing  could  have  saved  Parliament 
from  utter  destruction.     Yet,  if  it  is  ever 

ios 


I 


No  One  Ever  Saw  the  Alleged  Tunnel. 

possible  to  prove  a  negative,  if  any  evi- 
dence can  show  that  a  certain  thing  never 
happened,  we  have  conclusive  evidence 
that  the  whole  story  of  the  mine  is  a 
fraud. 

Suppose  that  at  the  time  of  the  anti- 
Catholic  meetings  in  this  hall,  some  Cath- 
olics had  hired  rooms  across  the  street  and 
attempted  to  run  a  tunnel  under  this  tem- 
ple to  blow  up  the  beetle-browed.  Sup- 
pose their  design  was  discovered.  Are 
there  police  enough  in  this  town  to  keep 
back  the  crowds  who  would  want  to 
see  that  tunnel  and  carry  away  something 
as  a  relic?  Human  nature  in  London  at 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  human  nature  in  San  Francisco  at  the 
end  of  the  nineteenth,  are  the  same.  Yet, 
strange  to  say,  no  one  ever  saw  the  tunnel 
which  the  Gunpowder  conspirators  are 
said  to  have  constructed.  No  one  ever 
saw  any  trace  of  it.  The  walls  of  the 
Parliament  house  were  burrowed  half 
through;  when  the  old  Parliament  house 
was  pulled  down  in  1823  there  was  not  a 

106 


The  Many  Engineering  Difficulties. 

sign  of  such  burrowing.  One  man,  indeed, 
has  put  it  on  record  that  he  discovered 
the  place  where  the  conspirators  were 
working,  but,  unfortunately,  he  puts  it  on 
the  wrong  side  of  the  house.  Besides,  the 
earth  which  was  dug  out  of  the  mine  is 
another  difficulty.  Where  did  it  all  go? 
The  government  report  says  it  was  hidden 
under  the  turf  in  a  small  garden  adjoining; 
but  the  government  report  is  absurd.  If 
you  remark  the  immense  amount  of  stuff 
that  comes  out  of  even  a  small  excavation, 
you  can  understand  the  absurdity  of  the  at- 
tempt to  hide  it  away  under  the  turf  of  a 
small  lawn.  Add  to  this  that  none  of  the 
conspirators  was  an  engineer,  that  to  dig 
a  tunnel  through  soft  soil  is  a  most  dan- 
gerous operation;  that  the  place  in  which 
they  worked  was  a  public  place,  with  peo- 
ple passing  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and 
night;  that  for  weeks  they  were  hammer- 
ing away  at  a  nine-foot  wall  under  a  room 
which  was  open  to  the  public  and  was 
used  as  a  coal  shed,  and  that,  during 
all  that  time,  no  one  heard  them,  or  sus- 

107 


The  Improbabilities  of  the  Cellar. 

pected  anything  wrong.  You  might  as 
well  attempt  to  make  a  tunnel  across  Fifth 
street  into  the  United  States  Mint,  and 
work  at  the  foundations  from  January  to 
March,  without  being  discovered,  as  do 
what  Guv  Fawkes  and  his  fellows  were 
said  to  have  done.  A  corns  of  skilled  en- 
gineers  might  attempt  it,  but  that  men, 
who  never  handled  pick  or  shovel,  could 
accomplish  it,  is  simply  incredible. 

The  second  plan  is  still  more  extraordi- 
nary. The  cellar,  as  it  is  called,  bore  the 
same  relation  to  the  House  of  Lords  as 
do  the  stores  under  this  temple  to  this  hall. 
It  was  level  with  the  street,  and  it  was 
open  to  the  public.  We  are  asked  to  be- 
lieve that  the  conspirators  were  able  to 
bring  thirty  barrels  of  gunpowder  into 
this  room  secretly  and  leave  them  there 
for  seven  months,  with  no  protection  but 
a  covering  of  bundles  of  firewood;  that 
they  separated  in  March,  some  going  to 
take  the  waters  at  Bath,  some  to  visit 
friends,  without  leaving  a  single  soul  to 
watch  the  place;   that  they  came  back  just 

1 08 


The  Government  a  Government  of  Spies. 

in  time  for  the  opening  of  Parliament  and 
found  everything  undisturbed;  and  this, 
remember,  not  in  a  basement  in  an  out  of 
the  way  place,  but  on  the  very  ground 
floor  of  a  royal  palace,  around  which 
dwelt  hundreds  of  officials,  and  in  a  room 
which  was  absolutely  open  to  the  public. 
We  are  asked  to  swallow  all  this,  and,  no 
matter  how  willing  we  may  be,  there  are 
certain  things  which  pass  the  powers  of 
human  credulity. 

All  this  is  supposed  to  have  happened 
under  the  very  nose  of  a  government  the 
most  suspicious  in  Europe.  Had  we  not 
unimpeachable  testimony  to  the  fact,  we 
could  hardly  credit  how  extensive  and 
how  thoroughly  organized  its  spy  system 
was.  It  had  emissaries  in  every  court  on 
the  continent,  and  it  is  an  established  fact 
that  even  in  Rome  itself  it  was  able  to  get 
the  documents  sent  out  to  the  English 
Catholics  before  those  to  whom  they  were 
addressed  ever  laid  eyes  on  them.  Add  to 
this,  that  the  chief  conspirators  were 
known  to  the  government  as  lawless  and 

109 


Salisbury  Knew  of  the  Plot  Already. 

turbulent  men.  Several  of  them  had  been 
arrested  in  Elizabeth's  time  as  likely  to 
give  trouble,  and  others  had  been  con- 
cerned in  the  riots  known  as  Essex's  re- 
bellion. Percy,  who  hired  the  cellar,  was 
particularly  distinguished  for  his  reckless- 
ness, and  it  is  known  that  at  the  time  of 
the  plot  he  was  a  bigamist,  having  one 
wife  in  one  county  and  another  wife  in 
another. 

Bearing  these  facts  in  mind,  let  us  now 
turn  our  attention  to  the  story  of  the  dis- 
covery. The  common  account  has  it,  that 
one  of  the  conspirators  sent  a  letter  to  his 
brother-in-law  warning  him  to  remain 
away  from  the  opening  of  Parliament. 
This  was  ten  days  before  the  date  set  for 
that  ceremony.  At  first,  it  js  said,  Salis- 
bury made  little  of  the  document,  but 
that  some  days  afterward  the  miraculous 
penetration  of  the  monarch,  who  was 
known  as  the  "wisest  fool  in  Christen- 
dom," discovered  that  it  referred  to  an 
attempt  to  blow  up  the  government  with 
gunpowder. 

no 


Was  in  Communication  With  Plotters. 

Now,  it  is  as  certain  as  anything  can  be 
that  eighteen  months  before  the  discovery 
the  government  knew  what  was  going  on. 
This  we  know  on  the  authority  of  the 
government  itself.  Again,  among  the 
State  papers  we  find  almost  every  month 
up  to  the  date  of  the  plot  references  to  a 
design  soon  to  be  carried  out.  When,  how- 
ever, we  discover  that  Percy  was  seen  com- 
ing out  of  Salisbury's  house  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  while  the  plot  was  still  in 
progress,  and  that  Catesby,  who  was  the 
prime  mover  in  the  affair,  went  to  the 
same  house  several  nights  before  the  dis- 
covery, and  was  always  brought  privately 
in  at  a  back  door,  and  that  Lord  Mont- 
eagle,  who  received  the  alleged  warning, 
knew  that  he  was  to  receive  the  letter,  it 
is  not  easy  to  resist  the  conclusion,  sub- 
stantiated by  Salisbury's  own  son,  that  the 
whole  plot  was  a  contrivance  of  the  chief 
minister  to  advance  his  own  ends. 

This  conclusion  becomes  irresistible 
when  we  consider  the  fate  of  the  conspira- 
tors.    It  is  an  old  axiom  that  dead  men 

ill 


Why  the  Earlier  Plotters  Were  Killed. 

tell  no  tales.  It  was  not  an  uncommon 
thing  in  those  days,  "the  game  being  se- 
cured, to  hang  the  spaniel  that  caught  it." 
Now,  when  the  conspirators  fled  into  the 
interior  counties  they  had  no  followers 
and  no  firearms.  It  was  quite  easy  for 
the  law  to  secure  them,  all  alive.  Yet  it 
somehow  happened  that  Percy,  Catesby 
and  two  others  who  were  in  the  plot  from 
the  beginning,  and  who  could  have 
given  most  information  concerning  it, 
were  shot  down,  and  it  also  happened 
that  the  man  who  killed  Percy  and  Cates- 
by received  for  his  service  a  pension  of 
five  dollars  a  day  for  life.  The  two  were 
unarmed ;  he  shot  at  them  from  behind  a 
tree;  by  killing  them  he  silenced  the  two 
most  important  witnesses  in  the  case.  If 
we  cannot  set  down  his  munificent  reward 
to  his  bravery,  we  can  set  it  down  to  his 
skill  in  ridding  Salisbury  of  those  who 
might  have  said  too  much. 

Such  are  the  chief  features  of  this  great 
Gunpowder  Plot.  We  have  seen  that,  even 
were  the  traditional  story  true,  the  Catho- 

112 


The  Plot  Made  Salisbury  Secure. 

lies  had  provocation  that  human  nature 
could  hardly  bear.  We  have  seen  that,  in 
spite  of  all,  they  remained  quiet  hoping 
for  better  times.  We  have  heard  the 
words  of  one  of  the  most  eminent  living 
historians,  an  Englishman  and  Protestant, 
acquitting  them  of  all  complicity  in  it. 
We  have  seen  how  the  evidence  shows 
that  the  Catholic  clergy  were  entirely  in- 
nocent, and  we  have  seen,  too,  that  what 
we  know  of  the  inner  history  of  the  times 
points  to  the  conclusion  that  the  whole 
scheme,  if  not  devised  by  Salisbury  from 
the  beginning,  was  fostered  by  him  and 
used  with  diabolical  skill  to  the  consoli- 
dation of  his  political  fortunes. 

For  the  Gunpowder  Plot  was  a  success. 
It  made  Salisbury  the  most  popular  man 
in  England  and  annihilated  his  most  for- 
midable rival,  the  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land. It  was  the  death  blow  of  Catholi- 
cism. To  quote  Mr.  Jardine,  a  Protestant 
writer: 

The   political   consequences   of   this 
transaction    are    extremely    important 

ii3 


Confirmed  James  in  Protestantism. 

and  interesting.  It  fixed  the  timid 
and  wavering  mind  of  the  king  in  his 
adherence  to  the  Protestant  party,  in 
opposition  to  the  Roman  Catholics; 
and  the  universal  horror,  which  was 
naturally  excited,  not  only  in  Eng- 
land, but  throughout  Europe,  by  so 
barbarous  an  attempt,  was  artfully 
converted  into  an  engine  of  suppres- 
sion of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church; 
so  that  the  ministers  of  James  I.,  hav- 
ing procured  the  reluctant  acquies- 
cence of  the  king,  and  the  cordial 
assent  of  public  opinion,  were  enabled 
to  continue  in  full  force  the  severe 
laws  previously  passed  against  the 
Papists,  and  to  enact  others  of  no  less 
rigor  and  injustice. 

These  new  laws  bore  upon  the  English 
Catholic  layman  in  every  relation  of  life, 
in  every  profession,  in  every  occupation. 
They  deprived  him  of  the  right  of  acting 
as  an  executor  of  a  will  or  as  a  guardian 
of  a  child.  They  forbade  him  to  know 
law  lest  he  might  defend  his  rights;  they 
forbade  him  to  know  medicine  lest  he 
might  heal  his  sick.    He  was  forbidden  to 

114 


What  the  New  Penal  Laws  Were. 

reside  within  ten  miles  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don; he  was  prohibited  from  going  five 
miles  away  from  his  own  house  unless  he 
had  permission  from  four  Justices  of  the 
Peace.  His  home  might  be  broken  into 
at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night,  his 
horses  and  arms  seized,  his  books  and 
furniture  burned.  The  government  be- 
gan to  make  profit  of  him  as  soon  as  he 
was  born  and  they  did  not  cease  even 
when  he  was  laid  in  his  grave.  For  every 
child,  not  baptized  by  the  Protestant  min- 
ister, the  parents  were  fined  in  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  pounds;  for  every  corpse, 
not  buried  in  a  Protestant  graveyard,  the 
heirs  were  fined  in  the  sum  of  twenty 
pounds.  Besides  these,  the  exaction  of 
fines  for  non-attendance  at  Protestant  serv- 
ice, went  merrily  on,  and  the  persecution 
of  the  ministers  of  religion  filled  the  land 
with  blood. 

While  the  penal   laws,  the  hanging  of 
priests,   the   beggaring  of   Catholics   with 
fines,   the  turning  back  of   the  stream  of 
conversions,  all  contributed  to  the  destrue- 
ns 


Anti-Catholic  Opinion  Stereotyped. 

tion  of  Catholicism,  yet  the  gravest  dam- 
age done  the  ancient  religion  was  by  the 
plot  itself.  We  have  seen  how  at  once 
it  was  used  to  affix  a  stigma  of  treason  and 
cruelty  on  the  whole  Church.  The  popu- 
lar histories  said  little  about  the  conspira- 
tors themselves,  but  they  said  much  about 
Rome.  Those  popular  histories  made  pop- 
ular opinion.  The  Ghost  walked  abroad. 
It  was  a  bloody  Ghost  and  the  grandfather 
of  all  the  other  Ghosts.  From  the  days  of 
James  I.,  the  Catholic  faith  became  asso- 
ciated in  the  English  mind  with  all  in- 
iquity. It  was  an  institution  hating  Prot- 
estants with  a  deadly  hatred  and  sticking 
at  nothing  in  its  desire  to  exterminate 
them.  Jesuit  became  a  name  of  reproach; 
priest  a  word  of  mockery.  For  over  two 
centuries,  year  after  year,  the  5th  of  No- 
vember stamped  those  falsehoods  deeper 
in  the  English  mind.  But,  thank  God, 
the  night  is  past  and  the  dawn  is  grey 
in  the  sky.  The  Ghost  can  walk  no  longer. 
Men  are  now  recognizing  that  even  were 
the  whole   account  as  given  by  the  gov- 

116 


Conclusions  From  the  Evidence  We  Have. 

ernment  true,  the  Catholic  body  cannot 
be  held  accountable  for  the  wild  deeds  of 
a  few  who  were  goaded  beyond  endur- 
ance. Scholars  are  searching  patiently 
among  the  records  of  the  past,  deciphering 
the  crabbed  writing  of  those  crabbed  pol- 
iticians, and  slowly  but  surely  unravelling 
the  tangled  skein.  It  may  be  that  we 
shall  never  know  the  whole  truth  con- 
cerning the  Gunpowder  Plot,  but  these 
things  are  put  beyond  the  reach  of  criti- 
cism. First,  the  official  account  that  has 
come  down  to  us  is  falsified  in  substantial 
matters.  Secondly,  the  plot  was  known  to 
Salisbury  long  before  the  Monteagle  let- 
ter, and  at  no  time  was  the  King  or  the 
Parliament  in  danger  of  destruction. 
Thirdly,  the  plot  was  fostered  by  Salis- 
bury's tools  for  the  purpose  of  entrapping 
the  clergy,  if  possible,  into  its  meshes,  in 
order  to  excite  public  opinion  against  the 
Church.  Fourthly,  it  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  the  plot  itself  was,  in  the  first 
instance,  conceived  and  set  on  foot  by 
Salisbury  himself,  to  contrive  the  destruc- 

117 


A  Short  Triumph ;  Swift  Retribution. 


tion  of  his  one  remaining  rival  and  to 
consolidate  his  power  by  ruining  the  pros- 
pects of  the  Catholics. 

He  was  successful.  Protestantism  tri- 
umphed, but  not  the  Protestantism  which 
he  represented.  Puritanism  came  like  a 
flood  on  the  nation,  and  in  that  flood  the 
monarchy  itself  went  down.  The  country 
was  rent  and  ravaged  with  civil  war  and 
the  blood  of  Protestant,  shed  by  Protestant, 
was  mingled  with  the  Catholic  blood 
which  their  fathers  spilled.  Charles  I., 
the  son  of  James,  went  to  the  block,  and 
the  last  stand  made  for  his  craven  grand- 
son, James  II.,  was  made  by  those  Papists 
whom  the  grandfather  had  stigmatized  as 
naturally  disloyal. 

So  time  brings  its  revenge.  Those  days 
are  past  and  gone;  but  they  have  their 
lesson  for  us.  They  should  evoke  in  our 
minds,  not  sentiments  of  resentment,  but 
sentiments  of  toleration.  Religion  was  de- 
based then  to  further  a  politician's  ambi- 
tion, as  religion  may  be  used  now.  Let 
us    be    instructed    by    the    past.     In    this 

118 


Church  Needs  Only  Truth  and  Freedom. 

country  we  have  set  religion  in  an  invio- 
lable sanctuarv  and  we  have  drawn  round 
her  the  magic  line  that  no  unhallowed 
foot  may  cross.  She  is  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant  in  the  care  of  those  whom  she 
has  chosen;  let  no  unhallowed  hand  be 
laid  on  her.  We  Catholics  have  suffered 
most  from  the  prostitution  of  religion  to 
politics;  we,  therefore,  should  be  the  most 
determined  to  preserve  religion  free. 
Give  us  fair  play  in  the  present  and  give 
us  fair  play  in  the  past.  We  are  not 
ashamed  of  our  record.  All  we  ask  is  the 
truth.  Let  its  clear  and  steady  beam 
pierce  the  past.  And  as  it  illuminates 
those  unfamiliar  regions  we  shall  see  the 
figure  of  the  grand  old  Church  standing 
majestic,  bathed  in  light,  and  without 
spot  or  wrinkle;  while  in  the  outer  dark- 
ness are  the  gibbering  Ghosts,  whose  power 
to  injure  has  forever  passed  away. 


119 


Ill -THE  POPISH  PLOT. 

YOU  may  have  noticed  how,  from  time 
to  time,  in  this  city,  and  in  other 
cities  of  the  Union,  some  spirit 
has  moved  preachers  of  various  denomina- 
tions to  denounce  the  Pope.  A  sermon  is 
delivered,  in  which  the  alleged  iniquities 
of  Rome  are  described  in  lurid  colors; 
the  doctrines  of  Catholicism  are  held  up 
to  public  reprobation;  the  amazing  growth 
of  Popery  is  set  forth  as  a  menace  to  our 
free  institutions,  and  it  is  confidently  pre- 
dicted that,  unless  the  power  of  the 
Church  is  in  some  manner  curbed,  the 
future  of  this  countrv  is  freighted  with 
desolation  and  woe.  It  has  also  been  re- 
marked that,  after  the  said  preachers  have 
delivered  themselves  of  their  lamentations 
for  successive  Sundays,  something  happens 
that  make  their  congregations  very  desir- 
ous to  get  rid  of  them.  It  may  be  that 
there  is  a  special  providence  which  takes 

120 


Using  the  Anti-Catholic  Sentiment. 

care  of  the  congregations,  and  removes 
from  the  midst  of  them  men  whose  mission 
it  is  to  stir  up  strife.  It  may  be  that  the 
tolerant  spirit  of  our  separated  brethren 
revolts  from  the  unfounded  denunciation 
of  men  and  women  whose  only  crime  is 
that  they  are  in  communion  with  the  old 
Church,  which  saw  the  beginning  of  all 
other  churches.  But,  generally,  there  is 
another  reason.  It  will  be  usually  found, 
on  examination,  that  the  anti-Catholic 
preacher  has  long  been  a  candidate  for 
dismissal.  It  is  only  when  he  finds  that 
he  is  loosing  his  hold  upon  his  flock,  that 
he  thinks  of  reviving  his  popularity  by 
attacking  Rome.  A  young  preacher  is 
said  to  have  consulted  one  of  his  elders 
in  the  profession  as  to  the  best  means  of 
stirring  up  his  congregation  to  renewed 
interest.  "My  son,"  said  the  experienced 
minister  in  reply,  "My  son,  go  for  the 
Papists." 

When  a  congregation  is  deeply  anti- 
Catholic,  such  advice  produces  momentary 
success.     The    members    naturally     rally 

121 


The  People  Dearly  Love  a  Grievance. 

round  the  man  who  voices  their  suspicions 
and  supplies  arguments  to  their  preju- 
dice. In  rallying  round  him  they,  for  a 
time,  lose  sight  of  his  unfitness  and  forget 
their  grievance  against  him  in  the  face  of 
their  greater  grievance  against  the  object 
of  his  attack. 

This  is  as  true  of  politics  as  it  is  of 
religion.  There  is  hardly  a  community 
which  has  not  a  special  antipathy.  In 
some  places  it  may  be  a  sentiment  against 
a  certain  race;  in  some  places  it  may  be 
a  feeling  against  a  certain  corporation;  in 
most  places  it  is  a  decided  dislike  to  a 
high  rate  of  taxation.  It  is  common  ex- 
perience that  unscrupulous  politicians  try 
to  ride  into  power  by  catering  to  such 
antipathies.  They  put  themselves  at  the 
head  of  the  opposition,  and,  by  a  vigorous 
denunciation  of  the  object  of  popular  dis- 
approval, they  blind  the  eyes  of  the  people 
to  their  personal  unfitness. 

As  Protestantism  is  in  its  nature  a 
protest  against  Catholicism,  a  strongly 
Protestant   nation   will   be   strongly    anti- 

122 


Politicians  Find  the  Pope  Serviceable. 


Papal.  Hence,  though  the  politician  may- 
have  no  religion  whatsoever,  he  will  find 
it  to  his  advantage  to  appeal  to  the  anti- 
Catholic  spirit.  If  the  leaders  of  one  party 
wish  to  smirch  their  opponents  it  is  an 
easy  plan  to  raise  the  cry  that  they  are  in 
league  with  the  Pope.  If  the  accused 
wish  to  repel  the  charge  they  must  outdo 
their  adversaries  in  their  repudiation  of 
Popery.  If  one  party  seeks  to  gain  credit 
by  taking  harsh  measures  against  Catho- 
lics, the  other  party  will  go  it  one  better 
and  take  harsher  measures  still.  If  a  poli- 
tician blunders  in  the  civil  or  political 
affairs  of  the  country  an  easy  method  of 
turning  public  attention  from  his  mistakes 
is  to  raise  the  cry  of  danger  from  Rome. 
It  is  true  that  those  devices  are  successful 
only  where  the  anti-Papal  feeling  is  very 
strong  and  the  Catholics  very  few.  The 
motto  of  the  old  Roman  empire  was  to 
crush  the  strong  and  spare  the  weak.  The 
motto  of  your  politician  is  to  despise  the 
weak  and  to  worship  the  strong. 


123 


The  Results  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot. 

As  we  saw  in  the  last  lecture,  the  death- 
blow to  Catholicism  in  England  was  dealt 
by  the  Gunpowder  Plot.  That  terrible 
charge  was  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Catho- 
lics of  England.  The  government  ac- 
counts of  the  conspiracy  formed  public 
opinion;  and  the  government  accounts 
were  framed  for  the  purpose  of  defaming 
the  Church.  The  annual  celebration  of 
the  day  in  the  Establishment  perpetu- 
ated the  calumny  and  deepened  the  public 
hatred  of  Papists.  The  sentiment  of  loy- 
alty, the  sentiment  of  humanity  were  en- 
listed against  bloody  fanatics  who  knew 
no  ruth  when  the  interest  of  their  church 
was  at  stake.  When  Catholics  would 
speak  in  their  own  defense  the  prison 
doors  yawned  for  them  and  the  rack  stood 
ready  to  answer  their  arguments.  The 
fines  were  reducing  them  to  beggary  and 
their  numbers  were  constantly  lessened  by 
the  defections  of  those  to  whom  the  merci- 
less persecution  was  too  hard  for  flesh  and 
blood  to  bear. 

The   result  was   that   Catholics   became 

124 


Made  the  Popular  Idea  of  Papist. 

few  and  far  between.  They  formed  a 
small  fraction  of  the  population  and  their 
abodes  were  in  the  remote  counties.  A 
new  generation  grew  up,  which  knew  of 
Papists  only  by  repute.  The  oft  repeated 
history  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  with  its 
conspirators  and  Jesuits  and  priests,  plan- 
ning the  destruction  of  the  country  formed 
the  popular  idea  of  the  Catholic.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  Protestant  England 
looked  upon  Popery  as  the  mystery  of 
iniquity,  and  was  ready  to  believe  any 
tale,  no  matter  how  incredible,  about  the 
followers  of  the  Pope? 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  ultimate  re- 
sult of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  was  a  series 
of  calamities  for  the  dynasty  in  whose 
interest  it  was  concocted.  You  know  that 
in  King  James'  reign  the  power  of  the 
Puritans,  or  the  extreme  party  among  the 
Protestants,  began  to  grow.  James  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  Charles  I.  In  his 
reign  Puritanism  came  into  conflict  first 
with  the  Established  Church,  and  after- 
ward  with    the    King.      In   both    conflicts 

125 


The  Triumph  of  the  Puritan  Party. 

Puritanism  was  triumphant.  The  Episco- 
palian character  of  the  Anglican  Estab- 
lishment was  changed  into  Presbyterian- 
ism  and  the  son  of  James  I.  was  brought 
to  the  scaffold.  While  it  is  true  that  the 
arbitrary  imposition  of  taxes  was  the  cause 
of  the  revolution,  it  is  also  true  that  the 
revolution  was  made  possible  by  the  na- 
tional hatred  of  Popery.  The  Puritans 
accused  the  Bishops  of  being  Papists  in 
disguise,  and  the  King,  who  had  married 
a  Catholic  Princess,  was  suspected  of  the 
same  superstition.  The  Puritan  revolu- 
tion was  religious  as  well  as  civil,  and  its 
chief  strength  came  from  that  dread  of 
Catholicism  which  the  ministers  of  James 
I.  had  made  a  national  tradition,  and 
the  politicians  of  the  Puritan  party  knew 
well  how  to  use.  When  the  struggle  be- 
tween Charles  and  his  Parliament  was 
submitted  to  the  arbitrament  of  war,  the 
extreme  Protestants  took  the  field  against 
the  King.  After  a  cruel  struggle  the 
Puritans  were  triumphant,  and  less  than 
half  a  century  after  the  first  famous   5th 

126 


The  Inevitable  Break  In  Its  Ranks. 

of  November,  Charles  I.  was  executed  by 
the  victorious  revolutionists. 

The  triumph  of  Puritanism  accelerated 
the  action  of  a  tendency  common  to  all 
Protestant  sects,  namely  the  tendency  to 
division.  While  all  the  Puritans  were 
hostile  to  church  government  by  Bishops, 
some  were  hostile  to  church  government 
altogether.  The  Presbyterians  protested 
against  Episcopacy,  but  in  its  place  they 
substituted  a  government  by  synods  or 
other  assemblies  far  more  centralized  and 
far  more  despotic.  The  Independents 
held  that  each  congregation  was  separate 
and  independent.  To-day  we  call  the  In- 
dependents, Congregationalists.  The  party 
which  triumphed  in  England  was  not  the 
Presbyterian  faction,  but  the  Independent 
faction.  At  the  head  of  a  powerful  army 
Cromwell  maintained  the  supremacy  of 
his  sect.  England  had  exchanged  the 
royal  despotism  for  a  military  despotism. 
When  Cromwell  died  the  supremacy  of 
the  Independents  came  to  an  end.  Twenty 
years  had  passed  away  since  the  struggle 

127 


The  Restoration  of  King  Charles  II. 

with  Parliament  began.  Civil  war  had 
scourged  the  nation  and  Puritanism  had 
disgusted  the  mass  of  the  people  with  its 
hypocrisy  and  its  sourness.  The  royalists 
and  the  Presbyterians  combined  forces  and 
in  1660  Charles  II.  was  restored  to  the 
throne  of  his  father. 

With  his  accession  begins  the  history  of 
modern  politics.  Up  to  this  date  the  gov- 
ernment of  England  had  been  a  personal 
government.  The  likes  and  dislikes  of 
the  King  made  and  unmade  ministers. 
Henceforward  the  government  is  a  gov- 
ernment by  Parliament.  Although  in  the- 
ory the  King  still  retained  supreme  au- 
thority and  the  choice  of  his  advisers, 
those  advisers  became  more  and  more  the 
creatures  of  a  majority  in  the  legislature. 
Parliament  was  not  then  a  democratic 
assembly  representing  the  people.  The 
franchise  was  limited  and  the  seats  were 
filled  with  the  nominees  of  the  great 
houses,  of  the  country  squires  and  of  the 
wealthy  merchants  of  the  cities.  Govern- 
ment by  party  began.     As  in  this  country 

128 


Rise  of  Modern  Political  Parties. 

we  have  two  great  parties,  Democrats 
and  Republicans,  so  in  England  they  have 
two  great  parties,  Whigs  and  Tories.  They 
took  their  rise  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II., 
and  English  political  history  since  then  is 
made  up  of  their  struggles  for  power. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  quarrel  between 
Charles  and  his  Parliament  was  practically 
a  struggle  between  the  Established  Church 
and  Puritanism.  The  Cavalier  stood  for 
the  system  of  religion  set  up  by  Elizabeth, 
and,  when  the  Roundhead  triumphed,  he 
abolished  Episcopacy  and  prohibited  the 
use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  The 
same  measure  which  the  Episcopalians 
had  meted  out  to  the  Catholics,  was  now 
measured  out  to  themselves.  Between  the 
different  factions  of  the  Puritans  the  same 
intolerance  reigned.  The  Presbyterian 
hated  the  Independent,  and  the  Baptist, 
who  new  comes  into  notice,  was  loved  by 
neither.  But  all,  Presbyterian  and  Bap- 
tist, Congregationalist  and  Episcopalian, 
hated  the  Pope.  Then  was  seen  the  phe- 
nomenon  so   often    repeated   even   to   our 

129 


The  Intolerance  of  Protestant  Sects. 

own  day.  The  Protestant  sects  may  wran- 
gle among  themselves  and  may  persecute 
one  another  even  to  the  effusion  of  blood; 
but  once  whisper  the  word  Catholic  in 
their  ears  and  they  forget  their  differ- 
ences and  spring  to  arms  against  the 
common  enemy.  Cromwell,  who  was  the 
leader  of  the  Independents,  has  left  a  name 
which  is  a  synonym  for  bigotry,  cruelty 
and  hypocrisy.  He  drenched  Ireland  with 
Catholic  blood,  and,  even  to  this  day,  his 
atrocious  deeds  are  not  recalled  without  a 
shudder. 

When,  therefore,  Charles  II.  faced  his 
people  for  the  first  time,  he  faced  a  nation 
tired  of  civil  war,  weary  of  military  des- 
potism, yet  divided  into  factions,  the  one 
intolerant  of  the  other.  The  Catholics, 
who  were  few  in  number,  had  naturally 
taken  the  side  of  the  King  in  the  civil  war, 
on  the  principle  that  of  two  evils  they 
should  choose  the  lesser.  The  majority  of 
the  people,  disgusted  with  Puritanism, 
looked  with  favor  on  the  Established 
Church;  the  Puritans,  divided  into  at  least 

130 


Puritans  Driven  From  the  Establishment. 

three  hostile  denominations,  feared  the 
vengeance  of  their  former  victims.  To 
calm  their  apprehensions,  Charles  had,  be- 
fore his  landing,  published  a  declaration 
in  which  he  promised  liberty  to  tender 
consciences  in  matters  of  religion.  This 
declaration  gave  general  satisfaction  and 
the  Catholics  began  to  hope  that  the  night 
of  the  persecution  was  passing  away  and 
that  they  might  be  allowed  to  worship 
their  God  in  peace. 

The  lirst  Parliament  of  Charles  II.  met 
in  1661.  A  wave  of  loyalty  had  spread 
over  the  country.  The  reaction  against 
Puritanism  was  at  its  height.  With  the 
exception  of  a  small  handful  all  the  mem- 
bers were  fanatically  devoted  to  the  King 
and  to  the  Established  Church.  At  once 
the  Puritans  began  to  feel  their  vengeance. 
By  the  corporation  act  they  were  excluded 
from  municipal  office  and  by  the  act  of 
uniformity  they  were  excluded  from  the 
Established  Church. 

Relying   on   the   promise   of   the    King, 
both    the    Protestant    dissenters    and    the 

I31 


The  Court  Party  and  the  Country  Party. 

Catholics  petitioned  for  relief.  "Put  not 
your  trust  in  princes,"  is  an  old  and  true 
saying.  Charles  was  more  solicitous  of 
his  crown  than  of  his  good  word.  He  was 
afraid  to  cross  the  intolerant  temper  of 
his  Parliament  and  the  promise  of  toler- 
ance, like  so  many  other  promises,  was 
broken  almost  as  soon  as  made. 

The  legislature,  which  in  the  beginning 
was  so  loyal  to  the  King,  now  began  to 
suffer  the  inevitable  reaction.  It  divided 
into  two  parties,  one  in  favor  of  the  po- 
litical measures  adopted  by  the  court  and 
the  other  opposed  to  them  and  to  the 
King's  ministers.  The  former  or  court 
party  was  known  later  in  the  reign  as  the 
Tory  party  and  the  members  of  the  latter 
were  nicknamed  Whigs.  At  that  time 
France,  under  the  rule  of  Louis  XIV., 
was  the  most  powerful  nation  in  Europe. 
During  his  exile  Charles  had  lived  on 
the  charity  of  the  French  Court,  as  his 
mother  was  of  the  Royal  House  of  France. 
Naturally,  when  he  came  to  the  throne 
his  sympathies  turned  to  the  nation  which 

132 


Charles  II.  a  Pensioner  of  France. 

had  befriended  him.  He  entered  into  a 
close  alliance  with  Louis  XIV.  and  sur- 
rendered to  him  the  town  of  Dunkirk 
for  the  sum  of  four  hundred  thousand 
pounds.  The  enmity  between  France  and 
England  had  been  of  long  standing.  Dun- 
kirk was  the  last  of  the  great  possessions 
which  the  English  Kings  once  held  on 
the  continent.  Its  sale,  therefore,  hurt  the 
national  pride  and  the  country  or  Whig 
party  grew  more  and  more  embittered 
against  the  King  and  his  ministers. 

To  strengthen  their  position  the  Whigs 
began  to  raise  the  cry  of  "No  Popery." 
France  was  a  Catholic  nation.  Charles 
had  married  a  Catholic  princess  of  Por- 
tugal. If  they  could  persuade  the  country 
that  there  was  an  insidious  design  to  ex- 
tirpate the  Protestant  religion,  they  could 
even  coerce  the  King.  But  the  Tories 
were  able  to  play  that  game  too.  If  the 
Whigs  were  loud  in  their  denunciations 
of  Popery,  the  Tories  could  be  louder. 
If  the  country  party  could  introduce  new 
and  more  severe   measures  of   repression, 

133 


He  Desires  to  Grant  General  Toleration. 

the  Tories  could  take  those  measures,  add 
to  them  and  make  them  their  own.  Thus 
early  in  their  history  began  that  policy 
which  was  described  in  our  times  by  say- 
ing that  the  Tories  found  the  Whigs  in 
bathing  and  ran  away  with  their  clothes. 

Though  the  promise  of  tolerance  had 
been  broken,  both  the  Puritans  and  the 
Catholics  still  continued  to  remind  the 
King  of  his  engagement.  Charles  was  a 
man  of  abandoned  morals,  and  that  he  had 
any  religious  sentiments  whatsoever  is  a 
matter  of  doubt.  Nominally  he  was  a 
Protestant;  but  like  so  many  in  his  day 
and  in  our  day,  the  word  meant  merely  an 
indifference  to  all  religious  forms.  Hence, 
he  had  no  personal  animosity  against  any 
sect  or  belief,  and  it  is  quite  probable  that 
if  he  had  his  way  he  would  have  granted 
universal  toleration.  But  universal  toler- 
ation was  far  from  the  thoughts  of  the 
people.  It  was  an  idea  too  tender  for 
those  harsh  times.  Now,  it  had  been  held 
by  the  crown  lawyers  that  to  dispense 
with  the  operation  of  penal  laws  was  one 

134 


The  Whigs  Raise  the  Cry  of  No  Popery. 

of  the  prerogatives  of  the  sovereign.  To- 
ward the  end  of  1662,  Charles  published 
a  declaration  in  which  he  announced  his 
intention  to  apply  to  Parliament  for  an 
act  enabling  him  to  "exercise  with  more 
universal  satisfaction  the  power  of  dis- 
pensing." He  added  that  he  had  no  doubt 
that  the  Parliament  would  support  him,  as 
he  was  bound  by  his  solemn  promise  to 
grant  some  relief  to  those  who  suffered 
for  conscience  sake. 

The  country  party  saw  its  opportunity. 
The  No-Popery  Ghost  stalked  abroad.  It 
was  declared  that  the  King  had  little 
concern  for  the  oppressed  Protestants,  he 
only  wished  to  relieve  the  Papists.  Ru- 
mors were  spread  that  he  was  a  Catho- 
lic at  heart,  and  that  Jesuits  and  priests 
were  making  converts  all  through  Eng- 
land. Popery  was  on  the  increase  and  if 
the  Protestants  of  England  did  not  look 
to  it  they  might  soon  find  themselves  sub- 
ject to  the  Pope. 

The  court  or  the  Tory  party  was  not 
to  be  outdone  by  the  Whigs.    When  Par- 

135 


The  Tories'  Cry  Louder  Than  the  Whigs'. 

liament  met,  Charles  opened  it  with  the 
usual  speech,  and  dished  his  opponents  by 
demanding  the  enactment  of  new  laws  to 
check  the  progress  of  Popery.  Tories  and 
Whigs  vied  with  one  another  in  carrying 
out  his  recommendation.  Even  a  bill  to 
relieve  the  dissenters  or  Puritans  and  mak- 
ing special  exception  of  the  "Popish  reli- 
gion," was  defeated,  and  both  parties  pre- 
sented an  address  to  the  King  asking  for 
a  proclamation;  and  the  Parliament  again 
manifested  its  devotion  to  the  true  and  re- 
formed faith  by  another  address,  calling 
on  the  King  "to  put  in  execution  all  the 
penal  laws  against  Catholics,  dissenters 
and  sectaries  of  every  description." 

But  this  sweeping  and  sanguinary  pro- 
vision did  not  appease  the  bigotry  of  the 
Established  Church.  Year  by  year  the 
political  measures  adopted  by  Charles  and 
his  ministers  kept  alive  the  spirit  of  hos- 
tility between  the  country  party  and  the 
court;  and  both  parties,  when  their  policy 
was  called  in  question,  took  refuge  behind 
the  No-Popery  Ghost.     In   1666  London 

136 


The  Great  Fire  of  London,  1666. 

was  ravaged  by  a  great  fire,  which  de- 
stroyed two  thirds  of  the  city.  The  houses 
were  mostly  built  of  wood,  the  streets  were 
narrow,  and,  as  in  the  great  Chicago  fire, 
a  violent  storm  spread  the  flames.  But 
those  natural  causes  did  not  satisfy  the 
temper  of  the  time.  The  opponents  of  the 
court  declared  that  it  was  a  punishment 
from  God  on  the  immorality  of  the  King 
and  his  ministers;  the  court  party  retorted 
that  it  was  a  punishment  from  God  on 
the  wickedness  of  the  Puritan  rebellion. 
Both  parties,  however,  soon  found  a  com- 
mon scapegoat.  The  fire  was  the  work  of 
the  Papists.  To  quote  from  the  words  of 
Lecky : 

Panic-stricken  by  the  rapid  prog- 
ress of  the  flames,  half-maddened  by 
terror  and  by  despair,  the  people  at 
once  attributed  it  to  deliberate  incen- 
diarism. The  Dutch  and  French 
were  the  first  objects  of  their  suspi- 
cion, but  soon  after  the  Papists  were 
included,  and  were  dragged  in  multi- 
tudes to  prison.  A  Portuguese  who, 
according  to  the  custom  of  his  coun- 

137 


Ascribed  to  the  Malice  of  the  Papists. 

try,  picked  up  a  piece  of  bread  that 
was  lying  on  the  ground  and  placed 
it  on  the  ledge  projecting  from  the 
nearest  house,  was  seized  upon  the 
charge  of  throwing  fireballs.  Among 
the  crowd  of  terrified  prisoners  was 
a  poor  Frenchman,  whose  brain  ap- 
pears to  have  been  turned  by  the  terror 
and  excitement  of  the  scene,  and  who 
confessed  himself  the  author  of  the 
fire.  He  appears  to  have  been  simply 
a  monomaniac,  and  the  judges  openly 
declared  their  utter  disbelief  in  his 
disjointed  and  unsupported  story;  but 
in  the  temper  in  which  men  then  were, 
he  was  condemned,  and  the  King  did 
not  dare  to  arrest  his  execution.  Nor 
was  the  panic  suffered  to  pass  away. 
Although  a  Parliamentary  committee, 
after  the  strictest  inquiry,  could  find 
nothing  whatsoever  implicating  the 
Catholics  (who,  indeed,  could  have 
gained  nothing  by  the  crime),  it  was 
determined  in  the  most  solemn  and 
authoritative  manner,  to  brand  them 
as  its  perpetrators.  The  Monument, 
erected  in  memorial  of  the  Catastro- 
phe in  one  of  the  most  crowded  thor- 
oughfares of  London,  bore  two  Latin 

138 


The  Monument  Commemorating  the  Fire. 

inscriptions,  commemorating  the  re- 
building of  the  city,  and  the  Mayors 
by  whose  care  the  Monument  was 
erected.  The  third  inscription  was  in 
English,  that  all  might  read  it,  and  it 
was  to  the  effect  that  "This  pillar  was 
set  up  in  perpetual  remembrance  of 
the  most  dreadful  burning  of  this  an- 
cient city,  begun  and  carried  on  by 
the  treachery  and  malice  of  the  Pop- 
ish faction,  in  the  beginning  of  Sep- 
tember in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1666, 
in  order  to  the  carrying  on  their  hor- 
rid plot  for  extirpating  the  Protestant 
religion  and  old  English  liberty  and 
introducing  Popery  and  slavery."  In 
the  reign  of  James  II.  this  scandalous 
inscription  was  taken  away,  but  it  was 
restored  at  the  Revolution  and  was  not 
finally  removed  till  1831.  Another 
and  very  similar  inscription  was 
placed  in  Pudding  Lane,  on  the  spot 
where  the  fire  began,  and  remained 
there  till  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, when  it  was  removed  on  account 
of  the  crowds  who  gathered  to  read 
it. — Lecky's  England  in  the  Seven- 
teenth Century,  Ch.  ii. 

When  Rome  was  burned,  Nero  was  able 

139 


It  Also  Made  Popular  Opinion. 


to  throw  the  guilt  on  the  Christians. 
When  London  was  burned,  the  Protestants 
were  able  to  throw  the  guilt  on  the  Cath- 
olics. For  neither  charge  was  there  a 
particle  of  evidence,  but  the  result  was  in 
both  cases  persecution.  The  monument 
stood  in  the  midst  of  London,  the  capital 
of  the  country.  To  the  thousands  and 
thousands  who  passed  by,  it  trumpeted 
forth  its  lying  charge.  Generation  after 
generation  grew  up  under  its  shadow,  and, 
from  its  teaching,  learned  to  hate  the 
Catholic  name.  Like  the  celebration  of 
the  anniversary  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot, 
it  made  popular  opinion.  Is  it  any  won- 
der that  the  Protestant  tradition  should  be 
so  strongly  anti-Catholic?  Is  it  any  won- 
der that  those,  whose  youth  was  fed  on 
that  tradition,  should  be  ready  to  believe 
anything,  no  matter  how  extraordinary, 
against  it?  Though  the  charge  was  base- 
less, though  it  was  instigated  by  sordid 
motives  of  political  gain,  though  the  edu- 
cated must  have  known  its  untruth — what 
did    the    people    know?      Their    teachers 

140 


And  Helped  to  Preserve  Protestantism. 

were  the  effigies  of  Guy  Fawkes  and  the 
monument  of  the  great  fire.  Those  were 
the  Ghosts  which  haunted  their  dreams. 
Those  were  the  preservatives  of  Protes- 
tantism in  that  land — 

Where  London's  column  pointing  to 

the  skies, 
Like  a  tall  bully,   lifts  its  head   and 

lies. 

But  there  is  worse  to  come.  Since 
Charles'  accession  his  chief  minister  had 
been  Sir  Edward  Hyde,  afterwards  Earl 
of  Clarendon.  Like  all  men  who  hold 
power  for  any  length  of  time,  he  had  many 
enemies.  For  years  they  strove  against 
him  and  at  last  they  accomplished  his 
downfall.  The  brother  of  the  King  was 
James,  Duke  of  York.  As  Charles  had  no 
legitimate  issue,  James  was  the  heir  pre- 
sumptive to  the  throne.  He  had  married 
Hyde's  daughter,  and  the  statesmen  who 
had  accomplished  the  chief  minister's 
downfall  feared  the  vengeance  of  the 
Duke.  They  had  come  into  power  the 
year  after  the  great  fire,  and  their  constant 

141 


The  Conversion  of  James,  Duke  of  York. 

endeavor    thenceforward    was    to    exclude 
James  from  the  crown. 

In  1668  James  gave  them  an  oppor- 
tunity which  they  were  not  slow  to  use. 
He  was  converted  to  the  Catholic  Church. 
He  knew  the  danger  to  which  this  change 
of  creed  would  expose  him  and  he  hoped 
to  be  permitted  to  attend  the  service  of  the 
Established  Church  in  public,  while  he 
was  privately  in  communion  with  the 
Catholic  Church.  To  his  surprise  he 
learned  that  such  double-dealing  would 
be  a  sin  against  God's  law,  and  to  his 
credit,  be  it  said,  he  took  his  resolution 
at  once.  He  avowed  himself  a  Catholic 
and  was  ready  to  stand  the  consequences. 

It  would  be  too  tedious  to  follow  the 
crooked  politics  of  the  times  and  to  trace 
the  various  measures  by  which  the  oppo- 
nents of  James  worked  their  will.  Suf- 
fice to  say  that  in  1672  the  country  was  at 
war  with  Holland,  and  the  savage  laws 
against  the  dissenters  kept  the  nation  in 
turmoil.  Charles  resolved  to  use  his  dis- 
pensing  power   and   published   a   declara- 

142 


The  Enactment  of  the  Test  Oath. 

tion  suspending  the  operation  of  the  penal 
laws  in  the  case  of  dissenters.  When  Par- 
liament met  in  the  following  year  the  No- 
Popery  cry  was  raised.  Charles  was  com- 
pelled to  withdraw  the  declaration.  The 
opponents  of  the  Duke  of  York  now  urged 
on  the  war  against  him.  A  law  was 
passed  known  as  the  Test  Act,  by  which 
all  persons  holding  any  public  office  un- 
der the  crown,  were  compelled  to  receive 
the  sacrament  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  to  abjure  the  doctrine  of  Transub- 
stantiation.  The  result  was  that  the  Duke 
of  York  resigned  his  position  as  Lord 
High  Admiral,  and  was  practically  re- 
tired to  private  life. 

Soon  after  this  the  King  quarreled 
with  his  ministers.  The  ablest  of  them 
and  the  most  unscrupulous,  was  the  Earl 
of  Shaftesbury.  His  character  is  so  black 
that  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  human  na- 
ture could  be  so  vile.  Yet  as  Macaulay 
says:  "The  charges  against  him  rest  on 
evidence  not  to  be  invalidated  by  any  ar- 
guments  which   human   wit  can   devise. " 

143 


Shaftesbury  Exploits  No-Popery. 

When  Shaftesbury  was  dismissed  he 
threw  himself  with  all  his  energy  into  the 
party  opposed  to  the  court.  As  usual,  the 
weapon  employed  was  the  No-Popery  cry. 
He  began  to  fan  the  panic  by  tales  of  a 
Papist  rising  in  London,  and  of  a  coming 
Irish  revolt  with  a  French  army  to  back 
it.  He  declared  that  he  had  earned  the 
special  hatred  of  the  Catholics  and  that 
his  life  was  in  danger.  They  had  formed 
a  conspiracy,  he  said,  to  cut  his  throat,  and 
to  put  himself  in  security  he  took  lodg- 
ings in  London  with  a  Baptist  preacher, 
and  announced  to  the  citizens  that  he 
trusted  for  his  safety  to  their  vigilance 
and  fidelity.  When  Parliament  opened 
Shaftesbury  had  organized  the  country 
party,  and  measure  after  measure  was  in- 
troduced, aiming  at  the  exclusion  of  the 
Duke  of  York  from  the  crown.  Those 
measures  were  defeated  by  the  proroguing 
of  Parliament,  but  the  public  was  ex- 
cited and  alarmed  by  the  charges  and 
counter-charges  that  had  been  made. 

Shaftesbury's    zeal    had    been    directed 

144 


The  Tories  Meet  Him  On  His  Own  Ground. 

against  the  court  party,  and  the  success  of 
the  country  party  was  owing  to  the  dex- 
terity with  which  he  employed  the  cry  of 
No  Popery.  Charles  resolved  to  meet  him 
on  his  own  ground  and  with  his  own 
weapons.  He  made  Danby  his  chief  min- 
ister, and  in  a  short  time  Danby  out- 
heroded  Herod.  A  proclamation  speedily 
appeared  again  banishing  priests,  provid- 
ing pains  and  penalties  for  such  as  should 
attend  Mass  and  forbidding  Papists  to 
come  near  the  royal  court.  But  Shaftesbury 
was  not  to  be  put  down  by  such  measures. 
"Let  the  Treasurer  cry  as  loud  as  he 
pleases  against  Popery,"  he  said,  "I  will 
cry  a  note  louder."  He  was  as  good  as 
his  word;  to  his  account  must  be  laid  the 
torrents  of  innocent  blood  which  were 
soon  to  be  shed. 

For  eighteen  years,  the  bugbear  of 
Popery  had  been  used  by  politicians. 
Parliament  never  met  without  deploring 
its  increase  and  demanding  new  laws 
against  it.  Unpopular  ministers  strove  to 
save  their  credit  by  denouncing  it;  popu- 

145 


Result  of  Constant  No-Popery  Cry. 

lar  ministers  strengthened  their  credit  by 
posing  as  its  opponents.  No  one  knew  bet- 
ter than  those  politicians  that  their  fears 
were  groundless  and  their  demands  with- 
out cause.  But  because  they  knew  that 
Catholics  were  few  and  far  between,  and 
that  Protestants  were  many  and  bigoted, 
they  were  the  more  ready  to  play  on  the 
popular  credulity.  You  may  imagine 
what  the  result  must  have  been.  The 
frightened  people  saw  Jesuits  in  every 
corner  and  priests  lurking  behind  every 
door.  The  great  fire  of  London  had  been 
attributed  solemnly  to  the  followers  of 
the  Pope,  and  the  fiendish  cruelty  which 
could  have  been  guilty  of  such  an  act 
would  be  guilty  of  any  act.  When  Shaftes- 
bury, therefore,  "cried  a  note  louder," 
he  found  ears  already  expectant  and  at- 
tuned to  the  cry. 

In  the  August  of  1678,  tidings  of  a  ter- 
rible plot  were  spread  through  England. 
The  author  was  one  Titus  Oates.  Pie 
was  the  son  of  a  ribbon  weaver,  and  dur- 
ing the  government  of  Cromwell  had  offi- 

146 


The  Career  of  the  Notorious  Titus  Oates. 

ciated  as  a  Baptist  preacher.  After  the 
Restoration  he  became  a  clergyman  in  the 
Episcopalian  Church  and  had  filled  sev- 
eral clerical  positions.  From  all  of  them 
he  had  been  driven  by  his  misconduct, 
and  report  accused  him  of  the  most  in- 
famous crimes.  At  last,  reduced  to  a  con- 
dition of  extreme  destitution,  he  applied 
for  assistance  to  an  Anglican  rector  in 
London  named  Dr.  Tonge.  This  gentle- 
man had  Popery  on  the  brain,  and  every 
quarter  he  issued  a  publication  warning 
the  country  against  the  Jesuits.  As,  how- 
ever, he  had  nothing  but  general  charges 
to  go  upon,  he  considered  that  it  would  be 
a  good  scheme  to  send  a  spy  into  the 
enemy's  country.  Accordingly,  it  was  ar- 
ranged that  Oates  should  feign  himself 
a  convert  to  Catholicism  and  should  ask. 
for  admission  into  the  Jesuit  Order.  He 
went  to  the  college  of  the  Jesuits  at  Val- 
ladolid,  in  Spain,  in  1677,  but  his  habits 
were  so  bad  that,  after  a  trial  of  five 
months,  he  was  expelled.  He  returned 
to  his  patron,  Tonge,  and  they  decided  that 

H7 


The  Plot  Is  Declared  to  Charles  II. 

as  he  had  been  so  unsuccessful  in  Spain, 
he  might  try  St.  Omer.  Here  he  was  re- 
ceived for  a  while,  but  his  infamous  char- 
acter was  soon  apparent  and  he  was  again 
expelled.  He  came  back  to  Tonge  in 
1678,  and  between  them  they  decided  that 
as  real  secrets  could  not  be  discovered, 
a  fictitious  plot  would  serve  as  well. 

Having  arranged  their  plan  of  cam- 
paign the}?"  took  a  man  named  Kirkby 
into  their  confidence  and  explained  to 
him  the  details  of  a  portentous  plot  which 
was  being  matured  by  the  Papists.  On 
the  13th  of  August  Kirkby  approached 
Charles  as  he  was  walking  in  the  Park, 
and  begged  of  him  not  to  separate  him- 
self from  the  company  because  his  life 
was  in  danger.  This  alarming  intelli- 
gence led  to  an  interview  in  the  afternoon 
with  Dr.  Tonge.  The  doctor  explained 
that  a  narrative  of  a  plot  had  been  left 
under  his  door  by  some  person  unknown, 
but  that  he  thought  he  had  a  clue  by 
which  he  could  discover  his  informant. 
The   King  did   not  seem   to  be  seriously 

148 


The  Jesuits  Were  to  Seize  England. 

alarmed,  and  in  September,  Oates  went 
before  a  well  known  magistrate,  Sir  Ed- 
mondbury  Godfrey,  and  made  affidavit 
as  to  the  truth  of  his  disclosures.  In  the 
same  month  Oates  was  called  before  the 
Privy  Council,  and  there  he  detailed  the 
following  marvellous  narrative. 

He  said  that  he  had  been  received  into 
the  Jesuit  order  and  had  so  far  won  the 
confidence  of  his  superiors  that  he  was 
intrusted  with  the  most  delicate  and  im- 
portant missions.  From  the  letters  which 
he  had  read  and  from  their  confidences  re- 
posed in  him  he  had  learned  the  details 
of  a  plot  which  was  being  concocted.  The 
Pope  had  entrusted  the  government  of 
England  to  the  Jesuits  and  they  had  de- 
termined to  restore  the  Catholic  religion 
by  bloodshed  and  rebellion.  Their  plan 
of  operations  comprised  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land. In  the  former  country  they  were 
organizing  a  great  massacre  of  Protestants, 
and  in  the  latter  they  were  disguised  as 
Presbyterian  ministers  and  were  preaching 
rebellion  against  Episcopacy.     They  were 

149 


All  Protestants  to  Be  Massacred. 

in  no  want  of  money,  but  on  the  contrary 
had  immense  sums  at  their  disposal.  In 
England  they  had  appointed.  Catholics  to 
the  chief  offices  of  the  State  and  Church. 
In  1666  they  had  burned  down  London 
and  they  were  now  planning  to  set  fire 
to  the  shipping  in  the  Thames.  At  a  given 
signal  all  the  Catholics  were  to  rise  and 
massacre  their  Protestant  neighbors.  All 
the  leading  statesmen  and  divines  were 
to  be  murdered.  Various  schemes  were 
formed  to  kill  the  King.  At  a  grand  meet- 
ing of  the  Jesuits,  held  in  April  in  Lon- 
don, three  sets  of  assassins  had  been  pro- 
vided, two  Jesuit  lay  brothers,  two  Ben- 
edictine monks  and  four  Irishmen,  cap- 
tained by  a  man  named  Fogarty.  If 
James  would  not  consent  to  his  brother's 
death,  he  too  should  be  killed.  More- 
over, the  Pope  had  issued  a  Bull,  ap- 
pointing certain  individuals  to  the  digni- 
ties of  the  Church  of  England,  because 
he  believed  that  on  the  death  of  the  King 
the  Catholic  religion  would  rise  to  its 
former  ascendancy. 

150 


Coleman's  Letters  Used  as  Evidence. 

The  plot  might  have  died  here  were 
it  not  for  the  work  of  the  politicians  dur- 
ing the  past  eighteen  years.  They  had 
prepared  the  public  mind  for  treasons, 
stratagems,  spoils,  and  here  indeed  were 
horrors  beyond  the  disordered  imagina- 
tion of  a  madman.  In  fact,  the  more 
diabolical  the  contrivance  appeared  the 
better  it  fitted  in  with  the  popular  idea  of 
the  Jesuits.  The  politicians  at  once  took 
it  up.  Shaftesbury  made  it  his  own.  Two 
events  which  then  happened  were  dex- 
terously turned  to  strengthen  the  popular 
delusion  and  were  interpreted  as  corrob- 
orative of  Oates'  narrative. 

Among  those  accused  by  Oates  as  being 
privy  to  the  plot,  was  one  Coleman,  who 
had    been    secretarv    to    the    Duchess    of 

J 

York.  His  papers  were  seized,  and 
among  them  were  found  several  letters 
which  he  had  written  to  friends  in  France. 
He  was  a  convert  from  Protestantism,  and 
certain  expressions  in  his  correspondence 
bore  on  the  growing  hopes  of  Catholics. 
The  sentiments  of  Charles  were  supposed 

151 


Death  of  Sir  Edmondbury  Godfrey. 

to  be  favorable  to  Catholicism;  James, 
the  heir  presumptive,  was  a  convert,  and 
Coleman,  like  many  an  enthusiast  since, 
spoke  confidently  about  the  conversion  of 
his  native  land.  Immediately  this  lan- 
guage was  seized  upon  as  a  proof  of  the 
plot.  The  conversion  of  England  could 
be  nothing  else  than  the  conversion  by 
murder  and  massacre  which  the  Jesuits 
had  planned.  The  letters  won  credit  for 
the  perjuries  of  Oates,  which  credit  was 
changed  into  certainty  when  the  news 
ran  through  the  frenzied  populace  that 
Sir  Edmondbury  Godfrey,  the  magistrate 
before  whom  Oates  had  made  his  depo- 
sition, was  found  dead  in  a  field  near 
London,  with  a  sword  driven  through  his 
heart. 

At  once  the  word  went  forth  that  it  was 
the  work  of  the  Jesuits.  They  were  try- 
ing to  stifle  the  plot.  Godfrey  was  known 
to  be  a  friend  of  the  Catholics;  in  fact, 
he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Cole- 
man, and  when  Oates  made  his  deposition 
implicating  Coleman,  he  had  given  the  ac- 

152 


Papists  Accused  of  Murdering  Him. 

cused  the  first  warning  of  the  charge. 
What  motive  the  Catholics  could  have  in 
assassinating  him  does  not  appear.  His 
father  had  committed  suicide,  and  the  at- 
titude in  which  he  was  found  was  evi- 
dence that  the  wound  was  self-inflicted. 
But  suicide  it  was  not  to  be;  the  coroner's 
jury  returned  the  verdict  that  he  was 
murdered  by  the  Papists,  and  the  whole 
city  looked  upon  him  as  the  first  martyr 
in  the  Protestant  cause. 

Then  from  the  Protestant  pulpits  rose 
the  cry  of  vengeance.  The  chief  among 
the  clergy,  men  such  as  Sancroft,  Burnet, 
Tillitson,  Stillingfleet,  declared  the  reality 
of  the  plot  and  called  for  the  severest 
laws  against  Catholics.  Godfrey's  body 
was  brought  into  the  city  and  laid  in  state 
in  his  own  house.  The  populace  were 
invited  to  view  the  mangled  remains  of 
the  Protestant  martyr.  The  sight  drove 
them  mad.  A  general  massacre,  the  burn- 
ing of  the  city,  the  blowing  up  of  the 
royal  palace,  were  hourly  expected.  Af- 
ter ten  days  a  public  funeral  brought  the 

153 


Spectacular  Funeral  Stirs  the  City. 

excitement  to  a  climax.  Seventy-two  cler- 
gymen walked  before  the  corpse  and  more 
than  a  thousand  gentlemen  in  mourning 
followed.  The  whole  city  turned  out. 
The  preacher  who  delivered  the  sermon 
appeared  in  the  pulpit  between  two  big 
brawny  men  to  protect  him  against  the 
designs  of  the  Papists.  The  sermon 
proved  conclusively  that  Godfrey  fell  a 
victim  to  the  Jesuits  because  of  his  at- 
tachment to  the  Protestant  religion,  and 
the  people  swore  over  his  grave  to  bring 
the  murderers  to  justice. 

In  the  meantime  Parliament  met  and 
immediately  began  to  investigate  the  plot. 
Shaftesbury  was  the  leader  in  the  inves- 
tigations. All  his  former  charges  were 
now  verified.  It  is  certain  he  knew  the 
plot  was  a  fraud;  it  is  certain  he  knew 
that  because  of  it  innocent  blood  would 
be  shed  like  water;  but  truth  and  justice 
and  humanity  were  nothing  to  him  in  his 
greed  for  power.  Oates  and  Tonge  were 
called  before  the  two  houses  and  the 
members  listened  in  horror  and  astonish- 

154 


Parliament  Adds  to  the  Excitement. 

ment  to  their  blood-curdling  tales — tales 
which  daily  grew  more  bloody.  Resolu- 
tions were  passed,  placing  guards  in  the 
cellars  under  the  House  of  Parliament, 
lest  the  Jesuits  might  attempt  a  second 
Gunpowder  Plot,  and  conjuring  Charles 
to  have  his  meals  prepared  by  none  but 
orthodox  cooks.  Five  Catholic  peers  were 
sent  to  the  Tower  and  two  thousand  Cath- 
olics thrown  into  prison.  A  proclamation 
ordered  that  all  Catholics  should  at  once 
depart  the  city.  London  soon  had  the 
aspect  of  a  town  besieged.  The  militia 
remained  all  night  under  arms.  Materials 
were  collected  to  barricade  the  great  thor- 
oughfares, cannons  were  planted,  patrols 
marched  and  no  citizen  dared  to  venture 
from  his  house  unless  he  were  armed  with 
what  was  known  as  the  "Protestant  flail," 
a  small  flail  loaded  with  lead,  to  brain 
the  Popish  assassins.  Shaftesbury  forced 
a  bill  through  the  legislature  which  ex- 
cluded all  Catholics  from  a  seat  in  Par- 
liament. The  exclusion  remained  good 
for  a  centurv  and  a  half.     It  was  no  use 

155 


Titus  Oates  the  Hero  of  the  Hour. 

that  some  in  authority  attempted  to  cast 
doubt  on  the  reality  of  the  plot.  Parlia- 
ment silenced  all  cavil  by  passing  a  joint 
resolution  that  "there  had  been,  and  still 
was,  a  damnable  and  hellish  plot,  con- 
trived and  carried  on  by  the  Popish  re- 
cusants, for  the  assassinating  and  murder- 
ing the  King,  and  for  subverting  the 
government  and  destroying  the  Protestant 
religion." 

Oates  was  now  the  hero  of  the  hour.  He 
was  applauded  by  every  one  and  called 
the  savior  of  the  nation.  Parliament  rec- 
ommended him  to  the  King,  he  was 
lodged  in  the  palace,  protected  by  guards 
and  given  a  pension  of  $6,000  a  year.  "In 
a  few  weeks  he  had  been  raised  from 
penury  and  obscurity  to  opulence,  to 
power,  which  made  him  the  dread  of 
princes  and  nobles,  and  to  notoriety  such 
as  has  for  low  and  bad  minds  all  the  at- 
tractions of  glory."  Up  to  this  his  tale 
had  stood  on  his  bare  word.  No  one  had 
come  forward  to  substantiate  his  charges 
against  the  many  whom  he  had  accused. 

156 


Other  Informers  Make  Their  Appearance. 

By  the  law  at  least  two  witnesses  were 
necessary  to  establish  a  charge  of  treason. 
But  the  success  of  Oates  had  its  natural 
consequences.  Informers  began  to  spring 
up  on  all  sides;  the  slums  of  London  dis- 
gorged a  multitude  of  false  witnesses  ready 
to  swear  away  the  lives  of  Catholics.  One 
William  Bedloe,  who  had  been  a  stable 
boy  in  the  household  of  a  Catholic  peer, 
came  forward  as  a  candidate  for  a  reward 
of  $2,500,  offered  for  the  discovery  of 
Godfrey's  murderers.  His  memory  im- 
proved with  practice,  and  he  soon  dis- 
covered that  he  knew  a  multitude  of  Jesu- 
its, priests,  popes,  monks,  nuns,  friars,  who 
were  all  working  in  the  great  Popish  plot. 
An  army  of  10,000  men  was  to  land  in 
Yorkshire,  another  army  of  30,000  friars 
and  pilgrims  was  to  sail  from  Spain, 
40,000  armed  cut-throats  were  secretly  or- 
ganized in  the  kingdom,  and  at  a  given 
time  were  to  massacre  the  Protestants, 
and  there  was  not  a  Catholic  in  England 
of  quality  or  credit,  who  had  not  re- 
ceived  information  of  the   plot  and  been 

157 


The  Queen  Herself  Accused. 


sworn  on  the  Sacrament,  to  lend  it  his  aid 
and  keep  it  secret. 

Oates  was  not  to  be  outdone  by  Bedloe 
and  he  appeared  before  the  King  with 
another  tale.  He  had  seen  a  letter  in 
which  the  Queen's  physician  had  stated 
that  she  had  given  her  consent  to  the 
King's  death.  Himself  had  overheard 
her  utter  the  same  sentiments.  Bedloe  if 
he  could  not  surpass  this  story  corrobo- 
rated it.  He  too  had  heard  the  queen  agree 
to  the  killing  of  Charles.  He  actually 
delivered  his  deposition  in  writing  at  the 
bar  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  Oates 
followed  with  the  charge:  "I,  Titus 
Oates,  accuse  Catherine,  Queen  of  Eng- 
land, of  high  treason." 

A  dispute  between  the  two  houses  put 
an  end  to  this  extraordinary  charge,  but 
the  courts  of  the  realm  were  busy  with 
the  rest  of  the  accused.  To  read  the  rec- 
ords of  that  time  is  like  reading  the  re- 
cords of  pandemonium.  The  judges,  the 
juries,  the  populace  were  leagued  by  hate 
and  terror   against   the   supposed   traitors. 

i58 


Victims  Hurried  to  the  Scaffold. 

The  informers  swore  to  the  most  improb- 
able tales,  contradicted  one  another  and 
themselves,  but  the  judges  overlooked  their 
manifest  perjury,  the  juries  required  no 
more  evidence  against  a  man  once  they 
found  he  was  a  Catholic,  and  if  any  wit- 
nesses dared  to  appear  in  favor  of  the  ac- 
cused, the  populace  nearly  tore  them  to 
pieces. 

The  first  victim  was  Coleman.  Oates 
and  Bedloe  swore  that  he  was  implicated 
in  the  plot,  though  it  was  conclusively 
shown  that  they  had  never  seen  him  be- 
fore. He  went  to  the  scaffold  in  Decem- 
ber, 1678,  protesting  his  innocence. 

Stayley,  a  Catholic  banker,  was  accused 
by  one  Carstairs,  a  Scotch  adventurer,  of 
high  treason.  Burnet,  one  of  the  London 
preachers,  knew  Carstairs,  and  knew  him 
to  be  a  scoundrel  of  the  deepest  dye.  He 
went  to  the  Lord  Chancellor  and  told  him 
that  the  informer  was  unworthy  of  credit; 
but  Jones,  the  attorney-general,  was  present, 
and  turning  fiercely  on  him,  demanded 
why    he    dared    defame    the    King's    wit- 

159 


Duke  of  York  Leaves  the  Kingdom. 

ness?  Burnet  shrank  from  the  frown  of 
power,  and  left  the  unfortunate  Catholic 
to  his  fate.  Stayley  was  found  guilty  and 
suffered  the  death  of  a  traitor. 

Three  Jesuits,  Ireland,  Grove  and  Pick- 
ering, were  next  tried.  Oates  and  Bedloe 
swore  against  them,  and,  of  course,  they 
were  found  guilty  and  died  on  the  scaf- 
fold, protesting  their  innocence. 

Next,  three  servants  of  the  Queen,  two 
Catholics  and  one  Protestant,  were  put 
on  trial  for  the  murder  of  Godfrey.  The 
evidence  given  against  them  was  full  of 
the  most  glaring  inconsistencies,  yet  the 
jury  found  a  verdict  against  them  and  the 
three  were  put  to  death. 

The  old  Parliament  was  dissolved  dur- 
ing the  excitement  of  the  plot  and  the  new 
Parliament  met,  breathing  slaughter  against 
Popery.  So  terrible  was  the  excitement 
that  the  Duke  of  York  withdrew  to  Bel- 
gium in  March,  1679,  the  month  the  legis- 
lature assembled.  Informers  and  arrests 
were  multiplied,  and  the  jails  were  filled 
with  the  victims  of  perjury.     Both  houses 

160 


Attempts  to  Exclude  Him  From  Throne. 

again  declared  that  there  "had  existed  and 
did  exist  a  horrid  and  treasonable  con- 
spiracy contrived  by  those  of  the  Popish 
religion  for  the  murdering  of  the  King, 
the  subverting  of  Protestantism,  and  the 
ruin  of  the  ancient  government  of  the 
kingdom."  Following  the  example  of  the 
contrivers  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  this  note 
was  prefixed  to  the  form  of  public  prayer 
appointed  to  be  read  on  the  day  of  the 
national  fast.  Articles  of  impeachment 
were  drawn  up  against  the  Catholic  Lords 
in  which  they  were  charged  that  "in  union 
with  Cardinal  Howard,  the  Provincial  of 
the  Jesuits,  and  a  number  of  persons,  they 
had  conspired  to  imprison,  depose  and 
murder  the  King,  and  reduce  the  king- 
dom under  the  tyranny  of  the  Pope."  This 
was  followed  by  the  introduction  of  a 
bill  excluding  the  duke  from  the  throne 
on  the  ground  of  his  religion.  The  bill 
failed  in  the  Lords  by  a  narrow  vote  and 
Parliament  was  prorogued.  But  the  trials 
still  went  on.  Five  Jesuit  Fathers — Whit- 
bread,    Fenwick,    Harcourt,    Gavan    and 

161 


Judges  and  Juries  Hurry  on  Convictions. 

Turner  were  placed  at  the  bar  on  June  13, 
1679,  t0  answer  for  their  share  in  the  plot. 
Oates,  Bedloe  and  a  whole  host  of  in- 
formers appeared  against  them,  the  chief 
justice  delivered  his  charge  with  his  usual 
partiality  and  the  jury  without  hesitation 
returned  a  verdict  of  guilty. 

The  following  day  Langhorne,  a  Catho- 
lic lawyer  who  had  acted  as  business  man 
for  the  English  Jesuits,  was  put  on  trial. 
He  was  a  good  lawyer  and  there  was  con- 
siderable fear  among  the  defenders  of  the 
Protestant  faith  that  he  might  get  off. 
Up  to  his  trial  he  had  been  kept  in  soli- 
tary confinement;  the  moment  he  appeared 
the  crowd  received  him  with  jeers  and 
hisses,  his  witnesses  were  abused  and  beat- 
en, his  objections  to  the  evidence  of  the 
informers  were  overruled  by  the  court, 
and  when  the  jury  brought  in  the  usual 
verdict  of  guilty,  the  hall  rang  with  cheers. 

Still  the  mob  was  not  satisfied.  The 
persecution  spread  through  the  kingdom. 
Proclamations  stared  from  the  walls,  of- 
fering ten  pounds  reward  for  the  discovery 

162 


The  Fury  Spreads  Through  Kingdom. 

of  any  Papist  within  the  royal  residence, 
fifty  pounds  for  the  discovery  of  any 
money  or  land  belonging  to  priests.  The 
fines  of  twenty  pounds  a  month  for  ab- 
sence from  the  Protestant  church  were  re- 
inforced, and  twenty-four  priests  were  sen- 
tenced to  death.  They  were  brought  to 
London  and  interrogated  by  Shaftesbury 
as  to  their  connection  with  the  plot.  Not 
one  admitted  any  knowledge  of  it,  not 
one  could  be  seduced  to  turn  informer. 
The  delay  did  not  please  the  House  of 
Commons.  The  members  called  aloud  for 
the  priests'  blood.  They  were  sent  back 
to  their  former  prisons.  Some  were  re- 
prieved for  a  time,  and  others  executed  at 
various  parts  of  the  kingdom,  among  them 
two  who  had  passed  their  eightieth  year. 
But  the  reaction  was  now  beginning.  At 
the  trial  of  the  Queen's  physician,  the  in- 
formers perjured  themselves  so  flagrantly 
that  the  prosecution  broke  down.  People 
began  to  ask  themselves,  after  a  year  of 
delirium,  could  such  things  be  true? 
Shaftesbury  saw  the  trend  of  public  opin- 

163 


Shaftesbury  Fans  the  Flames. 

ion.  The  measure  for  which  he  had 
worked  and  planned  was  still  unaccom- 
plished. James  was  not  excluded  from 
the  crown.  It  was  necessary  to  revive  in- 
terest in  the  plot.  He  therefore  planned 
a  great  demonstration  in  London  to  rouse 
the  people.  On  the  seventeenth  of  No- 
vember, 1679,  the  anniversary  of  the  ac- 
cession of  Queen  Elizabeth,  an  immense 
procession  was  formed.  First  came  a 
bell-man,  walking  slowly  and  exclaiming 
solemnly:  "Remember  Mr.  Justice  God- 
frey." Next  came  a  man,  dressed  as  a 
Jesuit,  bearing  a  dead  body.  Then  fol- 
lowed nuns,  monks,  priests,  bishops,  car- 
dinals and,  last  of  all,  the  Pope,  with  his 
arch-counsellor,  the  devil.  The  parade 
marched  through  the  streets  of  London  by 
torchlight,  and  was  viewed  by  200,000  per- 
sons, who  swore  eternal  hatred  to  Popery 
and  called  for  vengeance  on  the  Papists. 
At  Temple  Bar  the  Pope  and  his  at- 
tendants were  burned,  to  the  delight  of  the 
multitude,  who  were  thus  wonderfully 
comforted,  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the 

164 


New  Victims  Are  Sacrificed. 


plot,   and   strengthened   in   the   principles 
of  the  Protestant  religion. 

It  is  no  wonder  therefore  that  new  plots 
were  being  discovered  every  day;  some 
were  in  London,  some  were  in  Yorkshire. 
Men  manifestly  innocent  were  hanged  on 
the  testimony  of  the  most  infamous 
wretches.  James,  who  had  returned  to 
the  kingdom  was  prosecuted  as  a  Catholic, 
and  when  the  Parliament  met  in  1680  an 
informer  named  Dangerfield  appeared  be- 
fore the  house  and  accused  the  Duke  of 
York  of  instigating  him  to  the  murder  of 
the  King.  He  was  followed  by  a  troop 
of  new  witnesses  who  testified  that  a  new 
plot  was  being  hatched  to  murder  Oates, 
Bedloe,  Shaftesbury  and  all  who  had  ex- 
posed the  old  one.  The  excitement  was 
renewed.  The  exclusion  bill  passed  the 
Commons  but  was  defeated  in  the  Lords. 
In  revenge  the  promoters  of  the  plot 
brought  up  the  impeachment  of  the  Cath- 
olic peers.  They  were  afraid  to  attack  all 
at  once  so  they  selected  Lord  Stafford,  the 
oldest  and  the  most  helpless.     He  was  ad- 

165 


The  Ven.  Oliver  Plunket  the  Last  Martyr. 

judged  guilty  on  the  same  perjured  tes- 
timony and  he  went  to  the  scaffold  forgiv- 
ing his  enemies.  He  was  the  last  English 
victim  of  the  plot.  The  last  victim  was  an 
Irishman,  Oliver  Plunket,  Archbishop  of 
Armagh.  He  was  accused  of  managing 
the  Irish  department  of  the  plot.  He  was 
brought  over  to  England,  deprived  of  wit- 
nesses, and  condemned,  simply  because  of 
his  religion.  On  the  first  of  July,  1681, 
he  was  hanged  at  Tyburn.  Before  he  was 
dead  the  hangman  cut  him  down,  tore 
him  open,  and  burned  his  bowels  before 
his  face. 

This  was  the  last  effort  of  those  who 
were  interested  in  sustaining:  the  vitalitv 
of  the  plot.  Political  events  moved  rap- 
idly. Shaftesbury  fell  from  power  and 
fled.  The  Tory  party  rallied  round  the 
King.  There  was  no  longer  any  political 
capital  to  be  made  by  pushing  the  No- 
Popery  cry  further  for  a  time.  Oates 
was  convicted  of  libel  and  thrown  into 
prison.  In  the  reign  of  James  II.  he  was 
tried    for    perjury,    condemned    and    sen- 

166 


The  Reaction:    Shaftesbury  Flies. 

tenced  to  be  whipped  from  Tyburn  to 
Newgate  and  from  Newgate  to  Tyburn, 
and  to  be  imprisoned  during  the  rest  of 
his  natural  life.  When  the  new  anti- 
popery  cry  brought  in  William  of  Or- 
ange, in  1689,  Gates  was  set  free  and 
given  a  small  pension.  He  officiated  as  a 
Baptist  preacher  for  some  time  and  died 
in  obscurity,  in  1705. 

Such  is  a  brief  and  inadequate  account 
of  the  great  Popish  plot.  It  is  a  sad  and 
disgraceful  story.  The  plot  grew  out  of 
religious  hatred  dexterously  excited  by 
politicians  and  dexterously  played  on  by 
impostors.  The  plot  passed  away,  and 
men  of  sense  knew  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end,  it  was  a  diabolical  fraud.  Not 
so  the  people.  Their  fears,  it  is  true, 
passed  away,  but  they  imagined  they  had 
been  saved  by  their  own  vigilance.  They 
believed  the  "Tall  Bully"  which  told  them 
that  the  Papists  had  burned  the  city;  they 
honored  Titus  Oates  who  had  saved  it 
from  being  burned  again.  Thus  the  second 
Ghost  continued  the  work  of  the  first,  and 

167 


The  Effects  of  Plot  on  Catholics. 

Gunpowder  Plot  and  Popish  Plot  became 
the  two  buttresses  of  British  Protestantism. 


1 68 


IV.-THE  GORDON  RIOTS. 

IT  is  an  article  of  faith  among  our  sep- 
arated brethren  that  the  Protestant 
Reformation  marks  the  beginning  of 
modern  liberty,  religious  and  civil.  We 
are  told  that  before  the  time  of  Martin 
Luther  the  whole  world  was  delivered  over 
to  ignorance,  superstition  and  slavery.  On 
every  occasion  the  preachers  insist  on  the 
belief  that  all  the  freedom  we  now  enjoy 
comes  to  us  from  the  religious  revolution 
of  the  sixteenth  centurv.  Then  the  Bible 
was  opened.  Then  the  human  intellect 
came  out  of  its  dark  prison  house.  Then 
faith  was  made  free.  Then  conscience 
was  emancipated.  Then  was  the  first  im- 
petus given  to  that  movement  of  progress, 
which  for  three  centuries  and  more  has 
been  carrying  the  human  race  onward  and 
upward.  These  sentiments  are  re-echoed 
in  the  newspapers;  are  set  down  as  in- 
contestable   facts    in   our   text   books,    and 

169 


Protestant  Claims  to  Progress  and  Liberty. 

are  embodied  in  our  very  methods  of 
speech.  A  reformation  is  the  amendment 
or  bettering  of  what  has  become  corrupt; 
therefore,  the  revolt  of  Luther  against 
Rome  must  be  the  Reformation.  The 
Catholic  Church  was  the  patron  of  ig- 
norance; therefore  the  Middle  Ages,  which 
were  the  ages  of  faith,  must  be  called  the 
Dark  Ages,  and  if  anything  strikes  us  as 
superstitious,  narrow  or  reactionary,  we 
brand  it  as  mediaeval.  That  Protestantism 
means  progress  and  light  and  liberty,  is 
to  the  generality  of  non-Catholics  what 
to  the  Mahometans  is  the  war  cry,  "There 
is  no  God  but  God,  and  Mahomet  is  His 
prophet." 

We  have,  during  the  past  lectures,  been 
trying  this  opinion  by  historical  facts.  We 
have  seen  that  Protestantism  was  intro- 
duced into  England  as  a  political  measure. 
We  have  seen  that  it  has  been  perpetuated 
by  cruelty  and  fraud.  From  the  very  be- 
ginning it  has  been  not  only  bolstered 
up  by  the  influence  of  a  government,  but, 
also,  it  has  been  forced  upon  a  people  by 

170 


) 


Belied  By  Long  Record  of  Persecutions. 

fines,  imprisonment  and  death.  Any  doc- 
trine or  opinion,  religious  or  other,  should 
be  able  to  make  its  own  way.  The 
human  intellect  is  the  supreme  judge  of 
reasoning,  and  any  opinion,  which  is 
afraid  of  reason,  is  not  fit  to  live.  Left 
to  itself,  it  will  take  refuge  among  the  ig- 
norant, or  die  out  altogether.  Faith  should 
be  free.  A.  faith  which  cannot  commend 
itself  to  human  judgments,  is  not  intended 
for  human  hearts.  Protestantism,  if  we 
are  to  judge  it  by  its  words,  stands  on  this 
platform.  It  has  delivered  humanity,  say 
its  admirers,  from  the  tyranny  of  Church 
and  priest,  and  it  sets  its  devotee  face  to 
face  with  God  to  hear  with  his  own  ears 
whatsoever  the  Lord  may  speak.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  Protestantism  has  never 
dared  to  live  up  to  its  professions.  It  has 
never  dared  to  allow  those  whom  it  could 
influence,  to  consider  the  question  of  reli- 
gion with  unbiased  mind.  I  have  recounted 
for  you,  and  I  have  still  to  recount,  a 
long  and  hateful  series  of  laws  by  which 
men   were   forced    into    Protestantism    un- 

171 


English  Protestantism  Rooted  in  Fraud. 

der  the  penalty  of  beggary,  of  exile,  of 
perpetual  imprisonment,  of  death.  By 
those  methods  was  the  Protestant  army  re- 
cruited. By  those  methods  was  religion 
"reformed."  By  those  methods  were  the 
slaves  of  Rome  dragooned  into  freedom. 
O  blessed  apostles  of  the  new  and  the 
pure  religion,  the  Rack,  the  Dungeon  and 
the  Block! 

No  opinion  is  worth  following  which  is 
supported  by  prejudice  and  untruth. 
When  two  opinions  clash,  that  one  which 
takes  refuge  in  misrepresentation,  in  slan- 
der, in  fraud  is  evidently  conscious  of  its 
own  weakness.  The  lectures  which  have 
been  already  delivered  prove  at  whose 
door  must  be  laid  the  charge  of  false- 
witness.  By  a  series  of  gigantic  impositions 
the  people  of  England  were  persuaded 
that  Popery  meant  treason,  meant  cru- 
elty, meant  slavery.  They  were  grounded 
and  rooted  in  Protestantism  by  forgery 
and  fraud.  The  Gunpowder  Plot,  the 
Fire  of  London,  the  Titus  Oates  Plot 
were   all   used   to   bring  the  Catholic   re- 

172 


Because  It  Cannot  Stand  Test  of  Truth. 

ligion  into  hatred  and  contempt.  Is  there 
anyone  living  now  who  will  say  that  those 
events  gave  any  foundation  for  the  vast 
structure  of  calumny  erected  on  them? 
Is  there  anyone  now  who  will  not  ac- 
knowledge that  unprincipled  men  by 
those  unholy  means  blinded  the  eyes  of 
the  people,  and  closed  their  ears  and 
hardened  their  hearts  against  the  Catho- 
lic Church?  Yet  those  men  knew  the 
strength  and  weakness  of  Protestantism. 
They  knew  the  strength  and  weakness  of 
the  English  people.  They  knew  the 
strength  and  weakness  of  Catholicism. 
If,  therefore,  they  could  not  afford  to  com- 
bat us  by  argument;  if  they  were  com- 
pelled to  introduce  their  creed  by  force; 
if  they  made  its  permanence  secure  by 
prejudice  they  thereby  confess  that  their 
creed  cannot  stand  the  test  of  argument, 
in  a  free  field  and  before  an  unprejudiced 
people. 

No  conclusion  is  trustworthy  which 
has  not  been  tried  by  enemy  as  well 
as  friend;  no  traditions  have  a  claim 

173 


Afraid  of  Comparison  With  the  Church. 

upon  us  which  shrink  from  criticism 
and  dare  not  look  a  rival  in  the  face. 
Now  this  is  precisely  the  weak  point 
of  Protestantism  in  this  country.  It 
is  jealous  of  being  questioned;  it  re- 
sents argument;  it  flies  to  State  pro- 
tection; it  is  afraid  of  the  sun;  it  for- 
bids competition.  Flow  can  you  de- 
tect the  sham,  but  by  comparing  it 
with  the  true?  Your  artificial  flow- 
ers have  the  softness  and  brilliancy 
of  nature,  till  you  bring  in  the  living 
article,  fresh  from  the  garden;  you 
detect  the  counterfeit  coin  by  ringing 
it  with  the  genuine.  So  is  it  in  reli- 
gion. Protestantism  is  at  best  but  a 
fine  piece  of  wax-work,  which  does 
not  look  dead,  only  because  it  is  not 
confronted  by  that  Church  which 
really  breathes  and  lives.  The  living 
Church  is  the  test  and  the  confuta- 
tion of  all  false  churches;  therefore 
get  rid  of  her  at  all  hazards;  tread 
her  down,  gag  her,  dress  her  like  a 
felon,  starve  her,  bruise  her  features, 
if  you  would  keep  up  your  mumbo- 
jumbo  in  its  place  of  pride.  By  no 
manner  of  means  give  her  fair  play; 
you  dare  not.     The  dazzling  bright- 

174 


Which  It  Designedly  Misrepresents. 

ness  of  her  glance,  the  sanctity  beam- 
ing from  her  countenance,  the  melody 
of  her  voice,  the  grace  of  her  move- 
ments   will    be    too    much    for    you. 
Blacken  her,  make  her  Cinderella  in 
the   ashes;   do   not  hear   a  word   she 
says.     Do  not  look  on  her,  but  daub 
her  in  your  own  way;  keep  up   the 
good  old   sign-post   representation   of 
her.     Let   her   be   a   lion-rampant,   a 
griffin,    a   wivern,    or    a    salamander. 
She  shall  be  red  or  black;  she  shall 
be    always    absurd,    always    imbecile, 
always   malicious,    always   tyrannical. 
The    lion    shall    not    draw    the    lion, 
but   the   man   shall   draw   him.     She 
shall  always  be  worsted  in  the  war- 
fare   with    Protestantism;    ever    un- 
horsed   and    disarmed,    ever    running 
away,   ever   prostrated,   ever  smashed 
and  pounded,  ever  dying,  ever  dead ; 
and  the  only  wonder  is  that  she  has 
to  be  killed  so  often,  and  the  life  so 
often  to  be  trodden  out  of  her,   and 
her  priests  and  doctors  to  be  so  often 
put  down,  and  her  monks  and  nuns 
to  be  exposed  so  often,  and  such  vast 
sums  to  be  subscribed  by  Protestants, 
and   such   great   societies   to   be   kept 

i7S 


The  Accession  of  James  II.  to  the  Throne. 

up,  and  such  millions  of  tracts  to  be 
written,  and  such  persecuting  Acts  to 
be  passed  by  Parliament,  in  order 
thoroughly,  and  once  for  all,  and  for 
the  very  last  time,  and  for  ever  and 
ever,  to  annihilate  her  once  more. — 
Newman,  Present  Position  of  Cath- 
olics, I,  I, 

In  1685,  Charles  II.  died,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  brother,  James  II.  James 
was  a  Catholic,  and  naturally  he  wished 
to  obtain  toleration  for  himself  and  his 
coreligionists.  But  this  was  more  than 
the  Protestants  of  England  could  stand. 
They  had  not  excluded  him  from  the 
succession  because  he  was  growing  old, 
and  his  heir,  Mary,  was  a  Protestant.  He 
would  be,  at  most,  in  power  for  a  few 
years.  But  when  they  found  that  his  wife 
had  borne  him  a  son,  and  that  he  openly 
avowed  his  intention  to  secure  liberty  of 
conscience  to  all  men  forever,  they  forgot 
all  their  theories  about  loyalty  and  invited 
a  foreign  prince,  at  the  head  of  a  foreign 
army,    to   destroy   their   own   government. 

176 


Deposed  By  the  Protestant  Factions. 

James  was  deserted  by  his  own  daughters, 
whose  Protestant  ambition  prevailed 
against  the  ties  of  nature;  the  crown  was 
given  to  William  of  Orange  and  his  wife, 
Mary,  and  thus  England  was  saved  once 
more  from  Popery  and  slavery. 

It  is  a  very  instructive  fact  that  Prot- 
estant preachers  find  that  the  country  is  in 
danger  from  Catholics  because  Catholics 
owe  allegiance,  as  they  claim,  to  a  foreign 
power.  This  argument  was  used  against 
the  Church  in  the  days  of  Henry  VIII., 
in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  and  is  used  in 
our  day.  It  is  an  argument,  which  ap- 
peals to  our  patriotism  because  our  first 
duty  in  civil  affairs  is  to  our  own  gov- 
ernment. It  is  our  privilege  to  lay  down 
our  lives  for  the  integrity  of  the  father- 
land, and,  if  we  wish  to  change  the  gov- 
ernment, that  change  should  be  made  by 
our  own  hands. 

Yet,  wherever  Protestantism  found  that 
its  power  to  persecute  Catholicism  was 
passing  away,  it  never  scrupled  to  call  in 
foreign    aid.     In    France   the    Huguenots 

177 


New  Penal  Laws  Under  William. 

delivered  over  their  fortresses  to  England, 
the  hereditary  enemy  of  their  country. 
In  England  the  Puritans  accomplished 
one  revolution  by  importing  an  army  from 
Scotland;  they  accomplished  a  second  rev- 
olution by  importing  an  army  from  Hol- 
land, and  they  perpetuated  that  revolu- 
tion by  importing  a  king  from  Germany. 
The  Protestant  party  has  had  one  fixed 
idea,  and  that  is  to  keep  the  Catholic 
Church  under.  To  accomplish  that  pur- 
pose, no  domestic  treason  has  been  too 
cruel,  no  civil  treason  too  black.  To 
keep  Protestants  in  power,  the  daughter 
was  willing  to  sell  her  father  and  the  pol- 
iticians were  ready  to  betray  their  native 
land. 

The  triumph  of  Protestantism  by  the  ac- 
cession of  William  of  Orange,  was  marked 
by  a  new  outbreak  of  persecution.  In 
addition  to  the  ancient  laws,  new  acts 
were  passed  for  the  purpose  of  ending 
Catholicism  once  and  forever.  The  say- 
ing of  Mass  was  made  an  offense  pun- 
ishable by  perpetual  imprisonment.     The 

i78 


Continued  Under  Succeeding  Sovereigns. 

same  penalty  was  provided  for  a  Catho- 
lic who  should  teach  school.  The  informed 
who  should  convict  a  priest  of  saying 
Mass,  received  a  reward  of  one  hundred 
pounds.  An  equal  amount  was  given  to 
the  informer  who  should  convict  any  per- 
son of  sending  a  child  beyond  the  sea  to 
be  educated  in  Papacy.  Every  Catholic 
forfeited  his  estate  to  his  nearest  Protes- 
tant relative,  and,  moreover,  he  was  dis- 
abled by  the  same  law  from  purchasing 
lands  in  the  kingdom  or  of  making  profit 
out  of  the  same. 

The  reigns  of  Anne  and  of  George  I., 
George  II.  and  George  III.  added  new 
enactments.  Those  laws  were  designed 
to  make  it  impossible  for  a  Catholic  to 
escape  the  persecution,  and,  as  late  as  1760, 
a  new  penal  statute  subjected  them  to  a 
double  assessment  of  the  land  tax. 

In  order  to  explain  the  wonderful  vi- 
tality of  a  creed  which  was  able  to  survive 
so  cruel  a  trial,  it  has  been  said  that  the 
laws  were  not  enforced.  But  this  state- 
ment is  not  true.     The  pecuniary  rewards 

179 


Enforced  Both  Against  Clergy  and  Laity. 

promised  to  informers  stimulated  their 
vigilance  and  a  long  series  of  persecutions, 
whose  records  are  found  in  the  English 
courts,  show  that  the  zeal  against  Popery 
never  slept. 

Speaking  in  1780  at  Bristol  upon  the 
subject  of  the  penal  laws  introduced  in 
the  reign  of  William  of  Orange,  Edmund 
Burke  said: 

From  that  time  every  person  of  the 
Catholic  communion,  lay  and  eccle- 
siastic, has  been  obliged  to  fly  from 
the  face  of  day.  The  clergy,  concealed 
in  garrets  of  private  houses,  or 
obliged  to  take  a  shelter  under  the 
privileges  of  foreign  ministers,  offi- 
ciated as  their  servants,  and  under 
their  protection.  The  whole  body  of 
the  Catholics,  condemned  to  beggary 
and  to  ignorance  in  their  native  land, 
have  been  obliged  to  learn  the  princi- 
ples of  letters,  at  the  hazard  of  all 
their  other  principles,  from  the  char- 
ity of  your  enemies.  They  have  been 
taxed  to  their  ruin  at  the  pleasure  of 
necessitous  and  profligate  relations, 
and   according  to   their  measure   and 

180 


Edmund  Burke's  Testimony. 


profligacy.  Examples  of  this  are 
many  and  affecting.  Some  of  them 
are  known  by  a  friend,  who  stands 
near  me  in  this  hall.  It  is  but  six  or 
seven  years  since  a  clergyman  of  the 
name  of  Malony,  a  man  of  morals, 
neither  guilty  nor  accused  of  anything 
noxious  to  the  State,  was  condemned 
to  perpetual  imprisonment  for  exercis- 
ing the  functions  of  his  religion;  and, 
after  lying  in  jail  two  or  three  years, 
was  relieved,  by  the  mercy  of  gov- 
ernment, from  perpetual  imprison- 
ment on  condition  of  perpetual  ban- 
ishment. 

A  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Shrews- 
bury, a  Talbot,  a  name  respectable  in 
this  country,  whilst  its  glory  is  any  part 
of  its  concern,  was  hauled  to  the  bar 
of  Old  Bailey,  among  common  felons, 
and  only  escaped  the  same  doom, 
either  by  some  error  in  the  process, 
or  that  the  wretch,  who  brought  him 
there,  could  not  correctly  describe  his 
person;  I  now  forget  which.  In 
short,  the  persecution  would  never 
have  relented  for  a  moment  if  the 
judges,  superseding  the  strict  rule  of 
their    artificial    duty    by    the    higher 

181 


Great  Change  in  English  Opinion. 

obligation  of  their  conscience,  did  not 
constantly  throw  every  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  such  informers.  But  so 
ineffectual  is  the  power  of  legal  eva- 
sion against  legal  iniquity,  that  it  was 
but  the  other  day  that  a  lady  of  con- 
dition, beyond  the  middle  of  life,  was 
on  the  point  of  being  stripped  of  her 
whole  fortune  by  a  near  relation,  to 
whom  she  had  been  a  friend  and  ben- 
efactor; and  she  must  have  been  to- 
tally ruined,  without  a  power  of  re- 
dress or  mitigation  from  the  courts  of 
law,  had  not  the  legislature  itself 
rushed  in,  and,  by  a  special  act  of 
Parliament,  rescued  her  from  the  in- 
justice of  its  own  statutes. — Speech 
at  Bristol,  Ij8o,  Edmund  Burke. 

From  this  extract  it  will  be  seen  that 
in  the  interval  between  1760  and  1780  a 
change  for  the  better  had  happened  in  the 
case  of  Catholics.  A  great  statesman  is 
able  to  address  his  constituents  and  plead 
the  cause  of  men  who  twenty  years  before 
were  still  the  object  of  new  restrictions. 
A  change  there  was,  a  great  change  and 
the  cause  of  it  was — America.     The  shot 

182 


Caused  By  the  War  of  Independence. 

that  was  fired  at  Lexington  had  echoed 
round  the  world.  We  are  accustomed  to 
think  that  our  War  of  Independence  had 
for  its  beneficiaries  only  the  thirteen  col- 
onies. All  the  sons  of  men  have  been 
the  beneficiaries  of  that  struggle  for  lib- 
erty and  none  more  so  than  the  Catholics 
who  groaned  so  long  under  the  tyranny 
of  British  Protestantism. 

As  you  may  have  remarked  in  these  lec- 
tures, the  measures  passed  against  the  Cath- 
olic Church  were  the  fruit  of  security  not 
of  dread.  As  Burke  well  says,  the  Catho- 
lics of  England  were  but  a  handful  of 
people  enough  to  torment,  but  not  enough 
to  fear;  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  how- 
ever, numbered  nearly  two  millions. 
While  England  was  mistress  of  the  seas 
she  might  afford  to  tyrannize  with  im- 
punity. But  there  was  a  revolution  in 
her  affairs  which  made  it  prudent  to  be 
just.  In  October,  1777,  Burgoyne  sur- 
rendered to  the  American  forces  at  Sara- 
toga. When  the  news  reached  Europe  it 
had   a   decisive  effect  on   the   fortunes   of 

■83 


The  First  Measure  of  Relief. 


America.  In  February,  1778,  France  ac- 
knowledged the  independence  of  the  States' 
and  concluded  treaties  of  alliance  and 
commerce  with  the  young  republic.  Eng- 
land was  filled  with  gloom.  On  every 
side  she  was  confronted  with  enemies. 
The  danger  of  an  invasion  grew  more 
imminent  every  day.  It  was  resolved  to 
conciliate  the  Catholics  when  it  was  dan- 
gerous to  persecute  them.  In  May,  1778, 
a  relief  bill  was  rushed  through  both 
houses  of  Parliament.  In  the  lower  house 
no  one  opposed  it;  in  the  upper  house  a 
Protestant  bishop  with  many  professions 
of  liberality  spoke  against  it;  but  he 
naively  admitted  that  there  were  "particu- 
lar circumstances  which  might  make  delay 
inconvenient." 

The  relief  of  1778  was  not  a  very  large 
or  tolerant  measure.  It  merely  repealed 
the  statute  of  William  of  Orange,  of  which 
we  have  already  spoken.  That  statute 
subjected  Catholic  priests  and  school  mas- 
ters to  perpetual  imprisonment,  and  gave 
the  property  of  a  Catholic  to  his  nearest 

184 


Not  Extended  to  Scotland. 


Protestant  relative.  This  is  all  that  was 
repealed.  All  the  other  penal  laws  re- 
mained on  the  statute  book.  Catholics 
were  still  subject  to  the  pains  and  pen- 
alties and  disabilities  of  the  rest  of  the 
penal  code.  Not  for  another  half  century 
were  those  galling  provisions  swept  away, 
and  they  were  swept  away  only  when  a 
united  Ireland,  with  O'Connell  at  its  head, 
compelled  their  abolition. 

Small,  however,  as  the  boon  was,  it 
served  to  raise  the  hopes  of  Catholics. 
The  tide  of  persecution  had  reached  its 
flood,  the  ebb  had  now  begun.  Revolu- 
tions do  not  go  backward.  Political  ne- 
cessity had  made  a  breach  in  the  wall  of 
bigotry;  soon  the  whole  structure  of  in- 
tolerance would  come  rushing  down  in 
ruin. 

But  the  Ghosts  which  had  stalked  for 
two  centuries,  were  not  to  be  so  easily 
laid.  The  Act  of  1778  had  not  been  ex- 
tended to  Scotland.  It  was  proposed,  how- 
ever, to  give  the  Scotch  Catholics  the  same 
measure   of    relief,   but   the    Presbyterians 

.85 


Presbyterian  Opposition  to  Toleration. 

rose  up  against  the  very  thought  of  toler- 
ating the  Papists.  The  press  and  the  pulpit 
stormed  against  the  proposed  concession. 
The  synods  met  and  passed  fiery  resolu- 
tions against  antichrist.  A  solemn  fast  was 
proclaimed  in  Glasgow,  and  on  the  18th 
of  October,  1778,  a  mob  attacked  a  house 
where  a  few  Catholics  were  assembled, 
and  dispersed  them  by  pelting  them  with 
mud  and  stones.  On  the  following  Feb- 
ruary the  fanatics  plundered  and  burned 
a  house  where  occasionally  Mass  was  said. 
In  Edinburgh  another  mob  was  summoned 
by  public  proclamation  to  "pull  down  a 
pillar  of  popery,"  to  wit,  a  house  used 
for  Catholic  services.  After  performing 
this  pious  operation  they  attacked  the 
famous  historian,  Dr.  Robertson,  because 
they  considered  he  had  leanings  towards 
the  Papists.  The  military,  however,  inter- 
fered and  order  was  restored. 

Then  began  the  Great  Protestant  Asso- 
ciation. The  American  Protective  Asso- 
ciation is  but  an  alias  of  the  American 
Protestant  Association,  and  the  American 

186 


The  Great  Protestant  Association. 

Protestant  Association  is  the  lineal  de- 
scendant of  the  Great  Protestant  Associa- 
tion of  1779.  That  Association  was  es- 
tablished for  the  purpose  of  preserving 
the  ferocious  penal  laws  against  Catholics 
in  Scotland,  and  for  repealing  the  relief 
measure  of  1778,  in  England.  The  mem- 
bers took  an  obligation  not  to  buy  or  sell, 
borrow  or  lend,  or  have  any  of  the  or- 
dinary intercourse  of  society  with  Catho- 
lics. They  threatened  to  proceed  against 
all  Protestants  who  refused  to  join  them 
in  those  measures  as  if  they  were  Papists, 
and  the  violent  attempts  they  had  made 
against  liberal  non-Catholics  showed  that 
they  were  in  earnest. 

The  Protestant  Association  spread  from 
Scotland  into  England  and  soon  the  coun- 
try was  in  a  blaze.  Everywhere  the 
preachers  stirred  up  their  congregations 
to  mutiny.  The  "Dangers  of  Popery" 
formed  their  theme,  a  theme  well  calcu- 
lated to  fire  the  Protestant  blood.  A  mad- 
man known  as  Lord  George  Gordon  was 
made   president  of  the  Association.     Ad- 

187 


Captained  by  Lord  George  Gordon. 

vertisements  were  put  up  all  over  the  cities 
and  mysterious  handbills  were  distributed 
in  every  house  and  littered  every  street. 
The  excitement  rose  to  fever  heat  and  if 
the  Pope  himself  had  marched  in  proces- 
sion through  the  gates  of  London  the  pop- 
ulace could  not  have  been  more  stirred. 

Whenever  in  our  day  there  is  an  agita- 
tion against  the  Church  the  Methodist 
ministers  are  the  loudest  in  their  cry.  They 
deliver  eloquent  sermons  on  our  civil  and 
religious  liberty  and  they  profess  no  de- 
sire except  to  preserve  the  heritage  handed 
down  from  the  fathers.  They  see  in 
Rome  the  deadly  enemy  of  all  toleration 
and  they  attack  Rome  on  the  plea  that 
freedom  must  be  preserved. 

A  knowledge  of  history  would  recom- 
mend to  those  gentlemen  a  judicious  mod- 
esty. An  acquaintance  with  the  sentiments 
and  career  of  the  founder  of  their  denom- 
ination would  suggest  to  them  the  pru- 
dence of  "singing  low."  No  doubt  John 
Wesley  is  held  in  veneration  by  those  who 
follow  his  teachings;    to  Catholics   he   is 

188 


And  Championed  by  John  Wesley. 

one  of  the  last  of  the  persecutors.  To  his 
influence  may  be  attributed  the  surprising 
growth  of  the  Protestant  Association,  for 
just  as  his  spiritual  successors  in  this  town 
acted  as  propagandists  of  the  A.  P.  A. 
did  Wesley  for  the  Protestant  Association. 
His  pen  was  ever  ready  to  spread  its  in- 
tolerant principles  and  to  defend  it  when 
attacked. 

Unfortunately  for  his  reputation,  we 
have  on  record  letters  which  he  wrote 
advocating  the  persecution  of  Catholics. 
One  dated  January  12,  1780,  holds  "that  no 
government,  not  Roman  Catholic,  ought 
to  tolerate  men  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
persuasion,"  and,  again,  "they  ought  not 
to  be  tolerated  by  any  government,  Prot- 
estant, Mahometan,  or  Pagan." 

In  a  pamphlet  or  tract  entitled  "A  De- 
fence of  the  Protestant  Association,"  John 
Wesley  tells  us  of  the  dangers  which  have 
moved  him  to  write: 

However  unconcerned  the  present 
generation  may  be,  and  unapprehen- 
sive   of    danger     from    the    amazing 

189 


The  Founder  of  Methodism  a  Bigot. 

growth  of  Popery;  how  calmly  soever 
they  may  behold  the  erection  of  Pop- 
ish chapels,  hear  of  Popish  schools 
being  opened,  and  see  the  Popish 
books  publicly  advertised,  they  are 
to  be  informed  that  our  ancestors, 
whose  wisdom  and  firmness  have  trans- 
mitted to  us  those  religious  and  civil 
liberties  which  we  now  enjoy,  had 
very  different  conceptions  of  this  mat- 
ter; and  had  they  acted  with  that 
coldness,  indifference  and  stupidity 
which  seems  to  have  seized  the  pres- 
ent age,  we  had  now  been  sunk  into 
the  most  abject  state  of  misery  and 
slavery,  under  an  arbitrary  prince 
and  Popish  government. 

What  a  wonderful  opinion  Wesley  had 
of  Catholicism  may  be  judged  by  this  ex- 
tract. The  ministers  of  that  religion  had 
just  been  released  from  the  menace  of 
perpetual  imprisonment,  and  the  professors 
of  it  were  secured  merely  in  the  possession 
of  their  estates,  yet  Protestantism  was  in 
danger.  All  the  old  penal  laws  were  still 
in  force,  yet  Popery  had  given  evidences 
of  an  "amazing  growth."     Under  such  a 

190 


Would  Exterminate  Catholicism. 

condition  of  affairs  Catholicism  could  win 
converts,  not  by  earthly  motives,  for  the 
Catholic  was  still  an  outlaw,  but  by  pure 
conviction.  How  does  John  Wesley  pro- 
pose to  meet  it?  If  he  were  conscious  of 
the  goodness  of  his  cause,  he  would  meet 
the  arguments  of  the  old  religion  by  bet- 
ter arguments.  But,  no.  He  appealed  to 
Caesar  and  the  sword.  Restore  the  penal 
laws.  Burn  down  Popish  chapels,  close 
Popish  schools,  exterminate  Popish  books, 
and  then  the  reformed  religion,  accord- 
ing to  John  Wesley,  shall  prevail  against 
Popery — and  not  till  then. 

During  May,  1780,  Lord  George  Gor- 
don was  haranguing  the  excited  Protes- 
tants of  London  about  the  Pope.  Lord 
George  was  the  youngest  son  of  the  Duke 
of  Gordon  and  was  at  this  time  about 
thirty  years  of  age.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  he  was  crazy  and  his  morals  were 
as  muddled  as  his  brains.  He  was  very 
tall,  very  thin  and  very  bilious.  He  had 
high  cheek  bones  and  long  lank  red  hair. 
He  was  dressed  in  trousers  of  a  red  tartan 


191 


Lord  George  Gordon  a  Madman. 

plaid,  a  black  velvet  coat  and  spectacles. 
It  was  his  firm  belief  that  George  III. 
was  a  Catholic,  and  in  1780  he  opened 
operations  on  that  unlucky  monarch  by- 
securing  an  audience  and  reading  at  him 
a  long  Irish  Protestant  pamphlet  on  the 
errors  of  Popery.  Horace  Walpole  says 
he  began  to  read  it  at  midday  and  had  not 
finished  at  nightfall. 

Among  the  extreme  Protestants  his  pop- 
ularity was  unbounded.  His  rantings  were 
considered  inspired  and  he  was  looked 
upon  as  a  heaven-sent  defender  of  the 
reformed  faith,  a  male  Joan  of  Arc,  set 
up  by  Providence  to  save  Great  Britain 
once  again  from  "Popery,  Brass  Money 
and  Wooden  Shoes."  In  all  those  agita- 
tions it  is  noticeable  that  the  collection  of 
money  is  considered  an  outward  and  visi- 
ble sign  of  the  true  evangelical  faith.  It 
is  here  we  meet  for  the  first  time  our  friend 
the  Little  Red  Schoolhouse.  You  will 
find  in  Dickens'  novel,  "Barnaby  Rudge," 
a  full  description  of  the  patriotic  edifice 


192 


The  Original  of  the  Little  Red  Schoolhouse. 

used  by  the  Protestant  Association  for  the 
collection  of  subscriptions: 

Mrs.  Varden  looked  at  a  box  upon 
the  mantel-shelf,  painted  in  imitation 
of  a  very  red  brick  dwelling  house, 
with  a  yellow  roof;  having  at  top  a 
chimney,  down  which  voluntary  sub- 
scribers dropped  their  silver,  gold  or 
pence,  into  the  parlor;  and  on  the  door 
the  counterfeit  presentment  of  a  brass 
plate,  whereon  was  legibly  inscribed, 
"Protestant  Association" — and  looking 
at  it  said  that  it  was  to  her  a  source 
of  poignant  misery  to  think  that  Var- 
den never  had,  of  all  his  substance, 
dropped  anything  into  that  temple, 
save  once  in  secret — as  she  afterwards 
discovered — two  fragments  of  tobacco- 
pipe,  which  she  hoped  would  not  be 
set  down  to  his  last  account.  That 
Dolly,  she  was  grieved  to  say,  was  no 
less  backward  in  her  contributions, 
better  loving,  as  it  seemed,  to  purchase 
ribbons  and  such  gauds,  than  to  en- 
courage the  great  cause  then  in  such 
heavy  tribulation;  and  that  she  did 
entreat  her  (her  father  she  much 
feared  could  not  be  moved)  not  to  de- 

193 


Monster  Petition  Against  Catholics. 

spise,  but  imitate,  the.  bright  example 
of  Miss  Miggs,  who  flung  her  wages, 
as  it  were,  into  the  very  countenance 
of  the  Pope,  and  bruised  his  features 
with  her  quarter's  money. — Dickens' 
Barnaby  Rudge,  Chap.  xli. 

The  Protestant  Association  was  prepar- 
ing a  monster  petition  to  Parliament 
against  the  Catholics.  At  a  great  meeting 
Lord  George  Gordon  announced  that  he 
would  present  the  petition  to  the  House 
of  Commons  on  June  2nd.  He  said,  how- 
ever, that  unless  20,000  men  were  ready 
to  accompany  him,  he  would  not  go.  It 
was  agreed  that  the  members  of  the  As- 
sociation should  meet  at  a  certain  point 
and  then  march  to  the  House  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

On  Friday,  June  2nd,  from  50,000  to 
100,000  men  gathered  in  St.  George's 
Fields,  Southwark.  They  wore  blue  cock- 
ades in  their  hats  as  a  "ign  of  their  fidelity 
to  the  principles  of  Protestantism.  About 
ten  o'clock  Lord  George  Gordon  made  a 
speech  to  the  multitude,  and,  preceded  by 
the  great  petition  containing  120,000  sig- 

194 


Mob  Storms  Houses  of  Parliament. 

natures,  mostly  marks,  they  advanced  to- 
ward Westminster.  The  government  had 
taken  no  precautions  whatsoever.  At  that 
time  police  had  not  been  invented  and  a 
few  old  watchmen  alone  represented  the 
majesty  of  the  law.  The  mob  was  able, 
without  opposition,  to  take  possession  of 
the  avenues  of  approach  to  the  house,  of 
the  stairs,  and  of  the  division  lobbies. 
When  the  members  arrived  they  had  to 
fight  their  way  through  a  howling  mass  of 
humanity.  Every  member,  who  was  not 
known  to  be  opposed  to  Catholics,  was 
nearly  torn  to  pieces.  Lord  Mansfield, 
the  great  jurist,  was  most  unpopular  be- 
cause he  had  directed  a  jury  to  acquit  a 
Catholic  priest,  who  had  been  charged 
with  the  monstrous  crime  of  saying  Mass. 
When  his  carriage  arrived,  the  windows 
were  broken,  the  old  gentleman  was 
howled  at  as  a  "notorious  Papist."  The 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  had  his  carriage 
smashed  to  pieces.  He  fled  into  a  neigh- 
boring house  and  escaped  over  the  roof 
in  a  woman's  dress.     The  Duke  of  Nor- 

195 


Lords  and  Commons  Maltreated. 

thumberland  came  in  his  carriage  accom- 
panied by  his  secretary.  The  secretary 
was  dressed  in  black  and  the  moment  the 
mob  saw  him  they  raised  the  cry,  "A 
Jesuit,  a  Jesuit!"  The  Duke  was  dragged 
out,  rolled  on  the  ground,  and  some  zeal- 
ous defender  of  the  Bible,  no  doubt  ac- 
tuated by  a  desire  to  show  disapprobation 
of  Jesuits  and  Popery,  stole  his  watch  and 
purse. 

The  House  of  Lords  had  in  the  mean- 
time begun  to  transact  business  when  word 
came  that  Lord  Boston  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  mob  and  was  being  killed.  It  was 
suggested  that  the  peers  as  a  body  should 
sally  out  to  rescue  him  but  more  prudent 
counsels  prevailed.  "At  this  instant,"  said 
a  contemporary  writer,  "it  is  hardly  possi- 
ble to  conceive  a  more  grotesque  appear- 
ance than  the  House  of  Lords  presented. 
Some  of  their  lordships  with  their  hair 
about  their  shoulders,  others  smutted  with 
dirt,  most  of  them  as  pale  as  the  ghost  in 
Hamlet,  and  all  of  them  standing  up  in 
their  places  and  speaking  at  once."    After 

196 


Lord  George  Gordon  Presents  Petition. 

half  an  hour  Lord  Boston  staggered  in, 
half  dead,  his  clothes  in  rags.  The  mob 
had  taken  him  for  a  Catholic  and  were 
about  to  mark  him  as  one  for  ever  and 
ever  by  cutting  the  sign  of  the  cross  on 
his  forehead.  He  had,  however,  managed 
to  get  speech  with  them  and  having 
started  a  violent  controversy  among  them 
whether  or  no  the  Pope  was  antichrist 
he  escaped  while  they  were  settling  the 
momentous  question. 

The  Commoners  suffered  as  much  as 
the  Lords.  They  too  were  kicked,  cuffed 
and  beaten  and  they  reached  the  Chamber 
with  their  clothes  torn  in  ribbons  and 
covered  with  mud  and  filth.  Lord  George 
presented  the  petition  but  no  division 
could  be  taken  on  it  because  the  lobbies 
were  occupied  by  the  mob  who  pounded 
on  the  doors,  shouting  "No  Popery." 
Every  now  and  again  Lord  George  would 
address  them  from  the  gallery  and  tell 
them  what  was  going  on  inside  the  house. 
"There  is  Mr.  Burke,  the  member  for 
Bristol,  speaking  against  you."     "Do  you 

197 


Parliament  Refuses  to  Consider  Petition. 

know  that  Lord  North  calls  you  a  mob?" 
The  demeanor  of  the  petitioners  now  be- 
came so  threatening  that  the  prime  minis- 
ter sent  for  the  military  and  Colonel  Mur- 
ray,  Lord  George's  cousin,  said,  "My  Lord 
George,  do  you  really  mean  to  bring  your 
rascally  adherents  into  the  House  of  Com- 
mons? If  you  do,  the  first  man  that  en- 
ters, I  will  plunge  my  sword  not  into  his 
body  but  into  yours."  This  speech  fright- 
ened the  noble  defender  of  the  realm 
against  the  Pope,  and  "he  retired  to  the 
dining  room  where  he  fell  asleep,  listen- 
ing to  the  moral  exhortations  of  the  chap- 
lain." His  departure  had  a  soothing  ef- 
fect on  the  mob  and  when  the  military  ap- 
peared the  people  dispersed.  The  lobbies 
now  being  cleared,  the  house  divided  on 
Lord  George's  motion  to  consider  the  pe- 
tition at  once.  The  motion  was  rejected 
by  a  vote  of  194  to  8  and  the  matter  was 
put  over  to  the  following  Tuesday. 

Though  the  mob  had  retired  from  the 
Parliament  House  at  the  appearance  of 
the    military,    it    had    not    abandoned    its 

198 


Mob  Burns  Down  Catholic  Chapels. 

purpose  of  protecting  the  Protestant  re- 
ligion. At  that  time  the  foreign  ambassa- 
dors from  Catholic  Powers  had  their  own 
chapels  attached  to  their  embassies.  This 
was  a  privilege  allowed  by  the  law  of 
nations,  and  could  not  be  taken  away  by 
the  penal  laws.  The  Catholics  were  in 
the  habit  of  attending  those  places  to  hear 
Mass,  and  their  location  was  well  known 
to  the  mob.  Accordingly,  after  they  left 
the  House  of  Parliament,  those  brave  and 
patriotic  champions  of  a  pure  gospel  made 
for  the  Sardinian  and  Bavarian  chapels. 
The  furniture  was  dragged  into  the  street 
and  piled  into  a  great  bonfire.  The  chap- 
els themselves  were  burned  to  the  ground. 
Fire  engines  were  sent  for,  but  the  mob 
prevented  their  use.  When  all  was  over, 
a  detachment  of  soldiers  arrived  and  made 
a  few  arrests. 

Saturday  and  Sunday  the  town  was  ap- 
parently quiet;  but  on  Sunday  night  the 
rioting  began  again.  The  Lord  Mayor 
locked  himself  up  in  the  Mansion  House 
and  the  general  government  did  nothing. 

199 


Government  Apathetic;    Mob  Rule. 

The  Catholics  were  accustomed  to  wor- 
ship in  upper  rooms  and  out  of  the  way 
places.  In  Moorfields  there  was  a  colony 
of  Irish  laborers,  and  to  this  quarter  of 
the  town  the  rioters  directed  their  atten- 
tion. All  the  Catholic  houses  were  plun- 
dered and  burned;  and  whenever  the  mob 
came  across  vestments,  altars  or  taberna- 
cles, a  great  bonfire  was  made,  in  which 
they  were  solemnly  consumed  for  the 
greater  glory  of  God  and  the  exaltation  of 
the  reformed  faith. 

On  Monday  afternoon  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil met  and  offered  a  reward  for  the  dis- 
covery of  the  rioters;  but  still  no  measures 
were  taken  to  meet  force  by  force.  As 
yet,  only  Catholics  had  suffered,  and  there 
was  no  particular  need  of  repressing  too 
firmly  the  exuberant  piety  of  a  British 
mob.  But  the  flame  began  to  spread.  On 
Tuesday  two  other  Catholic  chapels  were 
discovered  and  burned.  The  incendiaries, 
to  show  their  devotion  to  their  champion 
against  antichrist,  carried  the  furniture 
and  ornaments  of  the  chapels  to  the  street 

200 


Houses  of  Liberal  Protestants  Attacked. 

before    Lord    George's    house,    and    there 
gave  them  to  the  flames. 

The  mover  of  the  relief  bill  of  1778 
was  Sir  George  Savile.  He  was  a  zealous 
Protestant,  but  his  liberality  made  him 
worse  than  a  Papist.  The  rioters  now 
attacked  his  house,  carried  it  by  storm 
and  plundered  it.  Lord  George  Gordon 
and  the  heads  of  the  Protestant  Associa- 
tion, who  had  remained  silent  while  Cath- 
olics were  the  sole  object  of  the  rioters' 
fury,  issued  a  notice  disavowing  the  riots 
in  the  name  of  the  Association.  Burke, 
who  favored  tolerance,  was  compelled  to 
take  refuge  in  the  house  of  General  Bur- 
goyne.  At  six  o'clock  Tuesday  evenin 
Parliament  met.  The  soldiers  were  drawn 
up  to  protect  the  members  and  to  overawe 
the  mob.  The  question  of  the  petition  came 
up  before  the  Commons.  Burke  made, 
what  he  considered  the  best  speech  of  his 
life,  on  the  subject,  and,  in  the  course  of 
it,  he  spoke  of  "that  base  gang  called 
the  Protestant  Association."  The  motion 
was  carried  to  consider  the  petition  when 

201 


a 


Newgate  Set  on  Fire;    Prisoners  Freed. 


the  riots  had  subsided.  This  angered  the 
rioters  still  more  and  they  went  off  to  at- 
tack the  Prime  Minister's  house  on  Down- 
ing street,  but  they  found  soldiers  before 
them. 

Then  began  the  worst  period  of  the 
riots.  On  Tuesday  night,  as  Gibbon,  the 
historian,  says,  the  mob  "held  the  town; 
forty  thousand  Puritans,  such  as  they 
might  be  in  the  time  of  Cromwell,  had 
started  out  of  their  graves."  Rumors  went 
round  that  a  Papist  invasion  was  immi- 
nent, that  the  Pope  was  coming  over,  that 
the  Inquisition  was  to  be  set  up.  The 
rioters,  who  had  been  arrested,  were  con- 
fined in  Newgate,  and  toward  Newgate 
the  mob  directed  their  steps.  It  was  a 
prison  of  immense  strength  and  had  lately 
been  rebuilt  at  great  cost.  The  governor 
refused  to  open  the  gates  and  his  house 
was  set  on  fire.  Soon  the  whole  place  was 
in  flames,  and  the  shouts  of  the  rioters 
were  answered  by  the  screams  of  prison- 
ers afraid  of  being  burned  alive.  At  last 
a  breach  was  effected,  and  three  hundred 

202 


Chief  Justice  Mansfield's  House  Sacked. 


common  thieves  and  felons  and  four  men, 
condemned  to  death,  were  set  free.  The 
mob  carried  the  prisoners  on  their  shoul- 
ders through  the  streets  and  hailed  them  as 
heroes  in  the  great  cause. 

That  same  evening  another  jail  was 
broken  open  and  the  house  of  the  Chief 
Justice,  Lord  Mansfield,  was  plundered 
and  burned.  The  mob  cursed  him  for  a 
Papist,  and  he  had  barely  time  to  escape 
by  the  back  door.  The  house  was  com- 
pletely demolished  and  thousands  of  val- 
uable books  and  priceless  manuscripts  went 
up  in  flames.  The  rioters  got  drunk,  as 
usual,  and  many  were  crushed  to  death  or 
roasted  in  the  ruins. 

On  Wednesday  the  riots  were  at  their 
height.  "Terrible  rumors  flew  round  the 
town;  the  lunatics  were  to  be  let  out  of 
Bedlam,  the  lions  out  of  the  Tower,  and, 
worst  of  all,  70,000  Scotch  Protestants  out 
of  Scotland."  Of  course,  business  was  en- 
tirely suspended,  the  shops  were  shut,  and, 
as  a  sign  that  the  householder  was  a  true 
Protestant,  "no   Popery"  was  chalked  on 

203 


Thirty-six  Fires  Burning  at  Same  Time. 

every  door.  Two  attacks  were  made  on 
the  Bank  of  England,  but  the  rioters  were 
beaten  off.  As  many  as  thirty-six  great 
fires  were  seen  burning  at  the  one  time. 
Happily  the  atmosphere  remained  still. 
If  a  wind  had  arisen,  nothing  could  have 
saved  the  city  from  destruction.  Horri- 
ble scenes  took  place  at  the  burning  of  the 
distillery  kept  by  a  Mr.  Langdale,  a 
Catholic.  The  contents  of  the  great  vaults 
were  poured  into  the  street  and  caught 
fire.  The  drunken  mob,  aye,  even  women 
and  children,  were  seen  rolling  in  the 
flames  and  lapping  up  the  liquid  fire. 

The  gutters  of  the  street  and  every 
crack  and  fissure  in  the  stones  ran 
with  scorching  spirit,  which,  being 
dammed  up  by  busy  hands,  overflowed 
the  road  and  pavement  and  formed  a 
great  pool  into  which  the  people  drop- 
ped down  dead  by  dozens.  They  lay 
in  heaps  all  around  this  fearful  pond, 
husbands  and  wives,  fathers  and  sons, 
mothers  and  daughters,  women  with 
children  in  their  arms  and  babies  at 
their  breast,  and  drank  until  they  died. 

204 


Rioters  Loot  Distillery  and  Die  in  Flames. 

While  some  stooped,  with  their  lips 
to  the  brink,  and  never  raised  their 
heads  again,  others  sprang  up  from 
their  fiery  draught  and  danced,  half 
in  a  mad  triumph  and  half  in  the 
agony  of  suffocation,  until  they  fell 
and  steeped  their  corpses  in  the  li- 
quor that  had  killed  them.  Nor  was 
even  this  the  worst  or  most  appalling 
kind  of  death  that  happened  on  this 
fatal  night.  From  the  burning  cel- 
lars, where  they  drank  out  of  hats, 
pails,  buckets,  tubs  and  shoes,  some 
men  were  drawn,  alive,  but  alight 
from  head  to  foot;  who,  in  their  un- 
endurable anguish  and  suffering,  mak- 
ing for  anything  that  had  the  look  of 
water,  rolled,  hissed  in  this  hideous 
lake,  and  splashed  up  the  liquid  fire, 
which  lapped  up  all  it  met  with  as 
it  ran  along  the  surface,  and  spared 
neither  the  living  nor  the  dead.  On 
this  last  night  of  the  great  riots — for 
the  last  night  it  was — the  wretched 
victims  of  a  senseless  outcry  became 
themselves  the  dust  and  ashes  of  the 
flames  they  had  kindled,  and  strewed 
the  public  streets  of  London. — Bar- 
nab  y  Rudge,  Chap.  Ixviii. 

205 


Government  Calls  Out  the  Soldiers. 

Up  to  this  the  government  appeared  to 
be  paralyzed.  Means  were  at  hand  in- 
deed to  quell  the  disturbance  but  nothing 
was  done.  While  the  Catholic  chapels 
were  burning  the  soldiers  looked  on  with 
loaded  muskets  in  their  hands  and  huzzaed 
with  the  mob.  But  by  Wednesday  it  was 
clearly  seen  that  unless  the  government 
should  intervene  London  would  soon  be 
only  a  name.  The  advisers  of  the  King 
were  in  hopeless  confusion.  They  were 
afraid  to  order  the  soldiers  to  fire  before 
the  Riot  Act  had  been  read.  George 
III.,  however,  solved  the  difficulty. 
'There  shall  be,"  he  said,  "at  all  events 
one  magistrate  in  the  kingdom  who  will 
do  his  duty."  The  soldiers  were  called 
out  and  the  mob  was  checked.  They  had 
no  firearms  and  could  make  but  little 
resistance  to  the  troops.  Many  were  shot 
down,  many  threw  themselves  into  the 
Thames.  The  soldiers'  bayonets  ran  with 
blood,  and  all  that  dreadful  night  citi- 
zens lay  awake  listening  to  the  shooting 
and  the  shrieks  of  the  rioters.    The  official 

206 


Mob  Routed;  Lord  George  Arrested. 

returns  calculated  that  two  hundred  were 
killed  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  wounded, 
but  the  destruction  of  life  must  have  been 
much  greater.  When  the  burned  houses 
were  rebuilt  it  was  not  an  uncommon 
thing  to  come  upon  the  remains  of  man- 
gled bodies.  Many  of  the  dead  and 
wounded  were  taken  away  secretly  by  their 
friends.  A  thousand  fatalities  would  be  a 
moderate  estimate  of  the  results  of  this  agi- 
tation to  prevent  the  growth  of  Popery, 
and  to  preserve  the  Protestant  religion. 

This  display  of  force  served  to  end  the 
riots.  On  Thursday  the  town  was  quiet 
and  on  Friday  business  was  resumed  as  be- 
fore. On  that  same  day  Lord  George 
Gordon  was  arrested  and  sent  to  the 
Tower.  The  Lord  Mayor  of  London  was 
tried  and  convicted  of  gross  neglect.  But 
the  no-Popery  spirit  had  not  been  ex- 
tinguished by  the  terrible  excesses  of  its 
representatives.  The  most  absurd  rumors 
were  circulated  about  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  Papists  and  their  presence  in 
the    court.      It   was    said    that    the    royal 

207 


Parliament  Affected  By  No  Popery. 


family  patronized  Catholics  extensively 
and  the  Lord  Chamberlain  was  forced  to 
insert  such  advertisements  in  the  papers 
as  this:  "We  are  authorized  to  assure 
the  public  that  Mr.  Bicknell,  His  Maj- 
esty's hosier,  is  as  true  and  faithful  a 
Protestant  as  any  in  His  Majesty's  do- 
minions. We  likewise  have  the  best  au- 
thority for  saying  that  His  Majesty's  wine- 
merchants  are  Protestants." 

When  Parliament  met  after  the  riots, 
the  great  Protestant  Petition  was  taken  up 
in  the  Commons.  Though  the  Legislature 
had  shown  dignity  and  firmness  in  re- 
fusing to  act  under  the  terrorism  of  the 
mob,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  no-Popery 
craze  also  affected  them.  Sir  George 
Savile,  who  had  introduced  the  original 
toleration  act,  brought  in  a  bill  to  guard 
against  Catholic  conversions.  No  Catholic 
was  to  keep  a  school  or  to  have  a  Prot- 
estant apprentice.  The  bill  passed  the 
Commons,  but  was  thrown  out  in  the 
Lords. 

The  consideration  of  the  Petition  drew 

208 


Fox  and  Burke  Speak  in  Vain  for  Toleration. 

forth  a  series  of  resolutions,  insisting  upon 
the  retention  of  the  law  of  1778,  but  mak- 
ing a  concession  to  the  Protestant  spirit 
by  insisting  also  on  the  criminality  of 
making  conversions  to  Catholicism.  It 
was  on  this  occasion  that  Fox  made  his 
great  speech  in  favor  of  toleration.  The 
ideas  of  America  were  in  the  air.  Men 
were  beginning  to  see  the  futility  of  pun- 
ishing those  whose  only  crime  was  that 
they  would  not  be  hypocrites.  It  was  the 
omen  of  a  happier  day,  that  the  House 
of  Commons  could  ring  with  such  gen- 
erous sentiments.  Rut  Fox  and  Burke 
were  ahead  of  their  time.  It  is  not  a 
century  and  a  quarter  since  they  stood 
among  English  Protestants  as  the  pioneers 
of  toleration.  They  died  without  seeing 
the  results  of  their  labor.  Nigh  fifty 
years  had  to  pass  before  their  dreams 
were  realized.  Bigotry  dies  hard.  Tol- 
erance is  a  plant  of  slow  growth.  The 
thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the 
process   of   the  suns;  but  oh,   how  slight 


209 


Trial  and  Acquittal  of  Lord  George  Gordon. 

is  the  widening!  How  leaden  are  the  feet 
of  progress! 

But  to  return  to  the  rioters.  In  July 
a  special  commission  sat  to  try  them.  By 
the  end  of  the  month  135  had  been  found 
guilty.  Twenty-one  were  hanged,  some  of 
whom  were  boys  under  fourteen.  Lord 
George  Gordon  was  put  on  trial  for  trea- 
son in  1 78 1.  During  the  trial  he  had  a 
large  Bible  open  before  him  all  the  time 
and  was  v^ry  angry  because  the  court  re- 
fused to  let  him  read  four  chapters  of 
the  Prophet  Zacharias  in  self  defense.  The 
jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  acquittal  and 
public  thanksgivings  were  offered  up  in 
many  churches  for  his  delivery,  while  the 
Scotch  Presbyterians  subscribed  five  hun- 
dred pounds  to  pay  his  legal  expenses. 

Lord  George's  career  after  this  period 
was  very  remarkable.  He  was  excom- 
municated by  the  Protestant  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  for  refusing  to  give  evi- 
dence in  an  ecclesiastical  case.  This  was 
a  sad  recompense  for  his  labors  in  pre- 
serving his  country  from  the  Pope,  but  it 

210 


His  Subsequent  Career;  Becomes  a  Jew. 

only  shows  that  churches,  like  republics, 
can  be  ungrateful.  About  1786  he  became 
a  Jew,  and  called  himself  the  Right  Hon. 
Israel  Bar  Abraham  George  Gordon.  He 
was  as  crotchety  in  his  new  creed  as  he 
was  in  his  old.  He  wore  a  long  beard, 
and  he  refused  to  speak  to  any  Jew  who 
did  not  sport  the  same  appendage.  In 
1787  he  was  convicted  of  libel,  but  before 
sentence  was  passed  he  fled  to  Amsterdam. 
The  honest  Dutch  burghers  did  not  know 
what  to  do  with  him,  so  they  sent  him 
back  to  England.  In  1788  he  was  brought 
up  for  judgment  and  was  committed  to 
Newgate.  After  five  years'  imprisonment, 
he  died  in  1793. 

It  was  the  unanimous  opinion  of  his  en- 
lightened contemporaries,  and  it  is  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  historians,  that  Lord 
George  Gordon  was  a  lunatic.  His  ac- 
tions, his  speeches,  show  that  he  was  stark 
mad.  If  he  lived  in  our  day,  he  would 
be  considered  a  fit  subject  for  an  insane 
asylum.  Indeed,  there  are  many  in  such 
institutions  now  not  half  as  mad  as  Lord 

211 


Imprisoned  Because  of  Influence  With  Mob. 

George  was.  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  long  sentence  which  was  given 
him,  was  given  merely  to  keep  him  under 
restraint.  There  was  a  well  grounded 
fear  that  at  any  time  he  might  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  another  mob.  Indeed,  the 
people  looked  upon  him  with  superstitious 
reverence,  as  one  who  had  fought  the  good 
fight  in  the  defense  of  the  Protestant  cause; 
and  notwithstanding  the  horrors  and 
butchery  of  the  riot,  there  were  not  want- 
ing evidence  that  ardent  Protestant  spirits 
were  ready  to  rally  round  their  ancient 
leader  and  burn  a  few  more  Catholic 
chapels. 

It  is  a  poor  compliment  to  the  English 
people,  or  to  any  people,  to  state  that  they 
could  be  swayed  to  rebellion  and  blood- 
shed at  the  dictate  of  a  madman.  Yet  I  but 
speak  the  truth,  and  before  we  rush  in 
to  condemn  let  us  listen  to  the  story  of 
our  own  Ghost  and  see  what  has  been 
done  in  our  own  land.  There  is  no  sen- 
timent which  so  destroys  human  reason, 
eliminates  common  sense  and  uproots  natu- 

212 


As  Blindly  Fanatical  as  Turks. 

ral  affection  as  religious  bigotry.  Be- 
tween the  fanaticism  of  the  Turk,  who 
rushes  on  the  Christian  confident  of  a 
place  in  Paradise,  and  the  fanaticism  of 
the  British  Protestant  of  the  last  century 
who  fell,  dead  drunk,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  George  Gordon,  there  is  absolutely 
no  difference. 

Certainly  the  work  of  the  Ghosts  was 
well  done.  For  over  two  centuries  the 
old  faith  had  been  made  a  byword  and  a 
hissing.  Seven  generations  of  English- 
men had  grown  up,  and  each  generation 
had  outstripped  its  predecessor  in  its  ter- 
ror of  the  Pope.  The  "increase  of  Pop- 
ery" haunted  it  by  night  and  day.  Even 
though  the  vast  machinery  of  the  law 
was  in  unceasing  operation  searching  out 
Papists,  beggaring  them,  imprisoning  them, 
banishing  them  beyond  seas,  sending  them 
to  the  block,  Protestantism  could  not  rest 
secure.  There  was  blood  upon  its  hands, 
and  like  the  murderer  it  knew  no  rest 
in  slumber.  Hideous  dreams,  fantastic 
ghosts,  peopled  its  imagination,  and  every 

213 


Protestants  and  the  Reformed  Calendar. 

now  and  again  it  sprang  into  fury  and 
sought  to  exterminate  the  objects  of  its 
hate. 

It  is  hard  nowadays  to  realize  the  extent 
and  the  strength  of  this  blind  terror  of 
Popery.  You  know  that  the  calendar,  or 
our  method  of  reckoning  time,  is  a  very 
complicated  arrangement.  As  the  sun  in 
its  course  round  the  earth  consumes  a  frac- 
tion more  than  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  days,  our  reckoning  of  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  days  to  the  year  is  not  accu- 
rate. As  the  fraction  is  very  small  it  was 
not  noticed  at  first,  but  in  the  course  of  cen- 
turies it  became  so  great  that  it  amounted 
to  more  than  a  week.  In  1582  Pope  Greg- 
ory XIII.  reformed  the  calendar,  and  in- 
troduced the  system  which  obtains  among 
us  to-day.  The  Catholic  countries  adopted 
the  change;  but  the  Protestant  nations, 
which  are,  according  to  their  own  notions, 
in  the  van  of  progress,  clung  to  the  anti- 
quated calendar,  because  the  new  style 
was  the  work  of  a  Pope.  England  did  not 
come  into  line  until   1751.     By  that  time 

214 


"Give  Us  Back  Our  Eleven  Days." 

the  error  had  amounted  to  eleven  days,  and 
it  was  necessary  to  suppress  them,  nom- 
inally, in  September,  1752.  The  pious 
British  Protestants  were,  in  the  first  place, 
scandalized  that  a  Protestant  government 
should  sanction  a  Popish  invention,  and, 
in  the  second  place,  they  were  convinced 
that  in  some  way  or  other  the  Pope  had 
got  hold  of  the  missing  days  and  was  ap- 
plying them  to  his  own  nefarious  purposes. 
The  mob  rose  in  its  wrath,  surrounded  the 
ministers'  houses,  and  split  the  air  with 
the  demand,  "Give  us  back  our  eleven 
days." 

It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  that  a  peo- 
ple so  impregnated  with  the  anti-Popish 
spirit  should  be  responsive  even  to  the 
wild  harangues  of  a  "lunatic  apostle."  It 
shows  the  power  of  prejudice,  the  power  of 
tradition,  the  power  of  calumny.  Neither 
in  the  days  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  nor 
in  the  days  of  the  Fire  of  London,  nor  in 
the  days  of  Titus  Oates,  nor  in  the  days 
of  George  Gordon  was  there  the  slightest 
reason  for  the  Protestant  terror.    The  pop- 

215 


Catholic*  Weak  and  Long-Suffering. 

ular  fear  was  engendered  by  Ghosts.  It 
was  fed  on  whispers  and  rumors  and  vague 
alarms.  Even  if  Catholics  wished  to  in- 
jure their  Protestant  neighbors,  it  does  not 
appear  that  they  had  it  in  their  power 
to  do  so.  They  were  few  and  scattered, 
and  without  leaders.  Indeed,  it  has  always 
seemed  to  me  that  the  Catholics  of  Eng- 
land were  too  loyal  and  law-abiding.  If 
they  had  been  more  self-assertive;  if,  when 
they  numbered  a  large  proportion  of  the 
population,  as  they  did  in  the  time  of 
James,  they  had  defended  their  conscien- 
tious rights  with  the  sword,  they  might 
have  fared  better — they  could  not  have 
fared  worse.  But  they  chose  the  path  of 
quiet  suffering,  and  walked  in  it  with  stead- 
fast feet.  In  this  they  did  not  show  that 
they  lacked  courage;  because  it  takes  a 
higher  degree  of  courage  to  suffer  pa- 
tiently and  serenely  and  steadfastly  through 
long  years  than  to  risk  everything  on  one 
wild  "dash.  We  can  hardly  understand  the 
long  martyrdom  of  our  brethren  in  the 
faith  during  the  time  I  have  been  describ- 

216 


The  Experience  of  Bishop  Challoner. 

in2.  In  the  Gordon  riots  we  have  the 
record  of  that  venerable  prelate,  Dr.  Chal- 
loner, whose  works  are  still  read  among  us. 
His  name  was  in  special  detestation  with 
the  rioters,  and  they  announced  their  deter- 
mination to  murder  him.  He  was  ninety 
years  of  age,  and  moved  from  hiding  place 
to  hiding  place,  with  the  mob  upon  his 
track.  In  a  little  room,  on  his  knees,  with 
tears  streaming  from  his  eyes — tears  not 
for  himself,  but  for  his  harassed  flock — the 
aged  Bishop  prayed  while  through  the 
streets  the  mob  surged.  He  is  but  a  figure 
of  the  thousands  who  suffered  in  those  dark 
days — thousands  of  men  and  women  of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy. 

For  us  those  days  have  their  lesson.  Not 
only  do  they  bring  out  what  is  the  main 
object  of  these  lectures — the  baselessness  of 
the  clamor  against  Catholics,  and  the 
sources  from  which  modern  Protestant 
prejudices  spring — but  they  afford  us  an 
object  lesson  of  the  hideousness  of  bigotry 
and  of  the  manner  in  which  it  should  be 
met.     Bigotry  is  a  bully.     It  is  cruel  to 

217 


Bigotry  Bold  is  Bigotry  Bloodthirsty. 

the  defenseless  and  the  weak.  It  dares  not 
attack  those  who  can  strike  back.  The 
cringing  air,  the  suppliant  knee,  the  silent 
mouth  make  bigotry  bold,  and  bigotry  bold 
is  bigotry  bloodthirsty.  But  a  determina- 
tion to  defend  our  rights  to  the  end,  with- 
out encroaching  on  the  rights  of  others, 
and  a  plain  expression  of  our  determination 
so  to  do,  will  in  every  case  secure  us  from 
its  malevolence.  It  is  not  necessary  to  be 
aggressive;  it  is  not  necessary  to  put  our- 
selves in  the  way  of  bigotry;  it  is  wrong  to 
insult  our  neighbors'  conscientious  convic- 
tions, but  it  is  necessary  to  stand  by  our 
rights  when  any  one  attacks  them,  and  it 
is  right  to  defend  our  own  conscien- 
tious convictions  when  they  are  called  in 
question. 


218 


V.-THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 
TITLES  BILL. 

WE  ARE  coming  to  the  end  of  this 
series  of  lectures.     It  may  be  use- 
ful,   therefore,    to    take    a    back- 
ward glance  and  see  what  we  set  out  to 
studv  and  what  are  the  results  of  our  inves- 

J 

tigations.  You  will  remember  that  I  said  in 
the  beginning  that  our  subject  would  be 
the  great  Protestant  Tradition.  Tradi- 
tion means  something  handed  down,  and 
we  undertook  to  examine  the  popular 
notion  about  Catholicism,  which  for  three 
hundred  years  has  been  handed  down 
from  Protestant  father  to  Protestant  son. 
As  the  main  stem  of  American  Protestant- 
ism is  of  English  origin,  it  was  necessary 
to  study  this  tradition  as  manifested  in 
England.  Hence,  we  have  been  dealing 
exclusively  with  English  history.  We 
found  that,  both  here  and  across  the 
water,  the  tradition  was  a  fact.  The 
Catholic  Church  comes  before  the  world 

219 


The  Power  of  the  Protestant  Tradition. 

and  makes  certain  claims.  All  she  asks 
is  that  those  outside  her  pale  should  ex- 
amine those  claims.  She  asks  for  no 
favor  from  them.  She  wishes  to  be 
judged  by  the  same  rule  of  right  reason 
that  they  apply  to  the  other  transactions 
of  life.  If  her  claims  do  not  approve 
themselves  to  sincere  inquirers  she  has 
nothing  more  to  say.  She  makes  only  the 
one  demand — that  the  inquirers  will  in- 
quire, and  not  pass  her  by  with  contempt. 
Here  it  is  she  meets  with  the  great 
Protestant  Tradition.  Men  and  women 
who  will  inquire  into  every  subject,  from 
the  Single  Tax  to  Theosophy,  will  not 
inquire  into  the  claims  of  the  Church.  It 
is  a  settled  fact  with  them  that  these 
claims  have  been  examined  and  found 
wanting.  This  is  the  Protestant  Tradi- 
tion. There  is  no  use  studying  this  ex- 
ploded superstition.  Some  of  them  turn 
on  her  in  anger,  and  denounce  her  as  a 
curse.  They  have  no  reason  but  the  Tra- 
dition. So  they  heard  their  fathers  say, 
and  so  say  they.    Others  pass  her  by  with 

220 


Based  Upon  Misrepresentation. 

a  contemptuous  smile — she  is  finished; 
the  last  word  has  been  said  in  her  case; 
she  has  no  longer  any  standing  in  court; 
let  the  dead  bury  their  dead.  Neither  has 
this  class  any  reason  for  its  opinion  but 
the  great  Tradition — so  it  is  written;  so 
it  must  be. 

We  went  a  step  further,  and  inquired 
how  it  is  possible  that  men  should  be  able 
to  hate  or  ignore  an  institution  which  we 
believe  has  been  founded  by  Christ  to 
bring  the  tidings  of  salvation  to  all  the 
world.  Then  we  found  that  those  men 
hate  or  ignore,  not  the  Church,  but  a 
Ghost  which  they  take  to  be  the  Church. 
Some  see  a  hideous  and  cruel  specter. 
They  hate  it,  and  they  fear  it.  They  will 
not  go  near  it  or  examine  it.  If  they  did 
they  would  soon  find  that  it  is  a  phantom 
of  prejudiced  minds.  Others  see  a  weak, 
jabbering,  imbecile  Ghost,  a  very  scare- 
crow, beneath  the  notice  of  grown  men. 
Neither  will  they  examine  for  themselves. 
If  they  did  they  would  learn  that  this 
Ghost,  too,  is  the  offspring  of  ignorance. 

221 


Produced  for  Political  Ends. 


Then   we   advanced    another   step,    and 
we    asked,    What    is    the   origin    of    these 
Ghosts?    Why  is  it  that,  to  English-speak- 
ing    Protestants     the     Catholic     Church 
should  be  something  to  be  hated  or  some- 
thing    to     be     despised?       Why     should 
Protestants  refuse  so  pertinaciously  to  ex- 
amine   her    claims?      Why    should    they 
turn    away    their    faces    so    steadily    from 
the  light  of  her  eyes?    We  found  the  ori- 
gin of  these  Ghosts  in  the  facts  of  Eng- 
lish political  history  during  the  past  three 
hundred  years.     We  saw  how  they  were 
created   by   skillful    politicians,    and   how 
they  were  used  to  impress  on  the  English 
people    the    charge    that    Catholics    were 
disloyal  and  bloodthirsty.     We  saw  how, 
from  year  to  year,   and   from  century  to 
century,  that  charge  was  reiterated  in  the 
pulpit,    on     the    platform,     from    public 
monument,  by  act  of  Parliament,  by  royal 
speech.      We    saw    how    Catholics    were 
slowly,    but    surely,    exterminated.      The 
Protestant   Tradition    had    it    all    its    own 
wav.     The    Catholic    could    not    answer 


222 


The  Downfall  of  the  Penal  System. 

t 

back.  Should  he  attempt  to  defend  his 
name,  he  did  so  at  the  peril  of  life  and 
limb.  Thus  the  Tradition  became  an  in- 
stitution of  the  country  not  to  be  doubted 
or  disturbed.  Thus  Catholics  were  made 
a  feeble  folk,  whose  silence  and  feebleness 
were  attributed  not  to  the  strong,  repress- 
ive hand  of  a  persecuting  government, 
but  to  the  consciousness  that  they  could 
not  defend  the  absurd  doctrines  they  were 
credited  with  believing,  nor  disprove  the 
scandalous  charges  that  were  laid  to  their 
account. 

In  the  last  lecture  we  saw  that  necessity 
had  made  a  change  in  the  English  policy 
toward  Catholicism.  As  long  as  England 
had  no  great  interests  outside  her  own 
shores,  she  might  be  able  to  deal  with 
domestic  disaffection  with  a  strong  hand. 
But  the  American  War  taught  her  the 
necessity  of  conciliating  her  own  citizens. 
The  American  War  produced  the  French 
War,  the  Spanish  War,  and,  to  use  the 
words  of  Fox,  "armed  forty-two  thou- 
sand men  in  Ireland  with  the  arguments 

223 


The  Relief  Measures  of  1791. 

carried  on  the  points  of  forty-two  thou- 
sand bayonets."  In  1791  an  Act  was 
passed  which  removed  some  of  the  most 
obnoxious  features  of  the  Penal  Laws. 
An  oath  of  allegiance  was  framed,  and 
those  who  took  it  were  exempt  from  "the 
penalties  for  hearing  or  saying  Mass  or 
performing  any  religious  service  in  their 
places  of  worship,  or  for  being  a  priest  or 
member  of  a  religious  order,  or  for  enter- 
ing any  such  order,  provided  that  such 
places  of  Catholic  worship  are  duly  cer- 
tified to  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  at 
Quarter  Sessions;  provided,  also,  that 
such  places  have  not  steeples  and  bells, 
and  that  such  ecclesiastics  shall  not  wear 
their  vestments  or  habits  out  of  their 
churches,  or  in  a  private  house  where  not 
more  than  five  persons  are  assembled." 
All  the  other  pains  and  penalties  were  in 
force.  The  Catholics  were  excluded  from 
political  life,  they  were  forbidden  to  en- 
dow a  school  or  college  for  the  education 
of  their  children,  they  were  subjected  to 
a    double    imposition    of    the    land    tax. 

224 


Catholic   Emancipation  Won   By   O'Connell. 

Catholic  soldiers  were  compelled  to  at- 
tend Protestant  services,  and  if  Catholics 
wished  to  get  married  they  had  to  go  be- 
fore a  Protestant  preacher.  It  was,  there- 
fore, well  written  as  late  as  the  year  1828, 
"Catholics  are  only  known  to  the  Consti- 
tution for  the  purpose  of  pains  and  penal- 
ties. We  are  worse  than  aliens  in  our 
native  land,  inasmuch  as  an  alien  is  under 
the  protection  of  equal  laws,  which  we 
are  not." 

That  Catholics  would  be  restored  to 
political  equality  with  Protestants  there 
was  little  hope,  if  such  restoration  de- 
pended on  the  English  Catholics.  They 
were  few,  and  without  influence.  But  a 
great  power  had  been  growing  up  in  Ire- 
land. The  Irish  Catholic  population  was 
increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds.  The  two 
millions  of  the  time  of  Edmund  Burke 
had  grown  to  six  millions.  God  at  last 
had  raised  up  a  leader  to  marshal  those 
millions  into  a  solid  phalanx  before 
which  no  government  could  stand.  In 
1829  the   British  ministry   introduced   the 

225 


Forced  Through  by  Fear  of  Civil  War. 

Emancipation  Act,  and  defended  their 
course  not  on  the  ground  of  tolerance  or 
of  justice,  but  on  the  ground  that  if  Eman- 
cipation were  refused  the  country  must 
face  civil  war. 

For  the  deliverance,  therefore,  from  the 
Penal  Laws  the  Catholics  have  no  one  tc 
thank  but  themselves..  As  long  as  it  was 
possible  to  withhold  justice  from  them, 
justice  was  withheld.  Only  when  they 
became  too  strong  to  be  kept  in  slavery 
were  their  chains  stricken  off.  The  relief 
was  given  ungracefully  and  grudgingly 
when  it  would  be  dangerous  to  refuse. 
They  have,  therefore,  no  debt  of  gratitude 
to  the  English  Parliament  or  to  the  Eng- 
lish politicians.  They  got  their  rights 
when  thev  were  able  to  take  them. 

This  is  true  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland; 
but  unfortunately  it  is  not  true  of  the 
Catholics  of  England.  I  have  already 
called  your  attention  to  the  disappearance 
of  English  Catholicism.  At  the  beginning 
of  this  century  there  were  not  in  all  Eng- 
land and  Wales  seventy  thousand  people 

226 


The  Low  Estate  of  Catholics  in  England. 

professing  that  faith.  They  had  no  influ- 
ence— social  or  political — and  excepting 
a  few  old  families  they  had  no  wealth. 
They  were  trained  by  centuries  of  perse- 
cution to  shun  public  notice,  thinking 
themselves  fortunate  if  they  were  allowed 
to  live.  There  was  no  Catholic  literature, 
there  were  few  priests,  the  services  of  the 
Church  were  conducted  in  hired  rooms 
or  in  mean  buildings  called  chapels. 
Cardinal  Newman,  with  his  matchless 
felicity,  described  the  condition  of  the 
Catholic  community  at  the  opening  of 
this  century  in  that  wonderful  sermon 
known  as  the  "Second  Spring": 

One  and  all  of  us  can  bear  witness 
to  the  fact  of  the  utter  contempt  into 
which  Catholicism  had  fallen  by  the 
time  that  we  were  born.  You,  alas, 
know  it  far  better  than  I  can  know  it; 
but  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  if  by  one 
or  two  tokens,  as  by  the  strokes  of  a 
pencil,  I  bear  witness  to  you  from 
without  of  what  you  can  witness  much 
more  truly  from  within.  No  longer 
the  Catholic  Church  in  the  country; 

227 


Described  by  Newman  in  Second  Spring. 

nay,  no  longer,  I  may  say,  a  Catholic 
community,  but  a  few  adherents  of  the 
Old  Religion,  moving  silently  and  sor- 
rowfully about,  as  memorials  of  what 
had  been.    "The  Roman  Catholics" — 
not  a  sect,  not  even  an  interest,  as  men 
conceived  of  it;    not  a  body,  however 
small,     representative    of    the    Great 
Communion  abroad,  but  a  mere  hand- 
ful   of    individuals,    who    might    be 
counted,  like  the  pebbles  and  detritus 
of  the  great  deluge,  and  who,  forsooth, 
merely   happened    to    retain    a    creed 
which,  in  its  day,  indeed,  was  the  pro- 
fession of  a  Church.     Here  a  set  of 
poor   Irishmen,   coming   or   going   at 
harvest   time,    or    a    colony   of    them 
lodged  in  a  miserable  quarter  of  the 
vast   metropolis.     There,    perhaps   an 
elderly   person,    seen   walking   in   the 
streets,  grave  and  solitary,  and  strange, 
though  noble  in  bearing,  and  said  to 
be   of   good   family,    and    a   "Roman 
Catholic."    An  old-fashioned  house  of 
gloomy    appearance,    closed    in    with 
high   walls,   with   an   iron   gate,    and 
yews,   and  the  report  attaching  to   it 
that  "Roman  Catholics"  lived  there; 
but  who  they  were  or  what  they  did, 

228 


As  Seen  From  Protestant  Viewpoint. 

or  what  was  meant  by  calling  them 
"Roman  Catholics"  no  one  could 
tell — though  it  had  an  unpleasant 
sound,  and  told  of  form  and  supersti- 
tion. And  then,  perhaps,  as  we  went 
to  and  fro,  looking  with  a  boy's  cu- 
rious eyes  through  the  great  city,  we 
might  come  to-day  upon  some  Mora- 
vian chapel,  or  Quakers'  meeting- 
house, and  to-morrow  on  a  chapel  of 
the  Roman  Catholics;  but  nothing  was 
to  be  gathered  from  it,  except  that 
there  were  lights  burning  there,  and 
some  boys,  in  white,  swinging  censers; 
and  what  it  all  meant  could  only  be 
learned  from  books,  from  Protestant 
histories  and  sermons,  and  they  did 
not  report  well  of  "the  Roman  Cath- 
olics," but,  on  the  contrary,  deposed 
that  they  had  once  had  power  and 
had  abused  it.  And  then,  again,  we 
might  on  one  occasion  hear  it  pointed 
out  by  some  literary  man,  as  the  re- 
sult of  his  careful  investigation,  and 
as  a  recondite  point  of  information, 
which  few  knew,  that  there  was  this 
difference  between  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics of  England  and  the  Roman 
Catholics  of   Ireland,   that  the   latter 

229 


Utterly  Feeble  and  Contemptible. 

had  Bishops,  and  the  former  were 
governed  by  four  officials  called 
Vicars  Apostolic.  Such  was  about 
the  sort  of  knowledge  of  Christianity 
by  the  heathen  of  old  time,  who  perse- 
cuted its  adherents  from  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  then  called  them  a  gens 
lucifuga,  a  people  who  shunned  the 
light  of  day.  Such  were  the  Catho- 
lics in  England — found  in  corners, 
and  alleys,  and  cellars,  and  the  house- 
tops, or  in  the  recesses  of  the  country; 
cut  off  from  the  populous  world 
around  them,  and  dimly  seen,  as  if 
through  a  mist  or  in  twilight,  as 
ghosts  flitting  to  and  fro,  by  the  high 
Protestants,  the  lords  of  the  earth. 
At  length,  so  feeble  did  they  become, 
so  utterly  contemptible,  that  contempt 
gave  birth  to  pity;  and  the  more  gen- 
erous of  their  tyrants  actually  began 
to  wish  to  bestow  on  them  some  favor, 
under  the  notion  that  their  opinions 
were  simply  too  absurd  ever  to  spread 
again,  and  that  they,  themselves,  were 
they  but  raised  in  civil  importance, 
would  soon  unlearn  and  be  ashamed  of 
them.  And  thus,  out  of  mere  kind- 
ness  to  us,   they  began   to  vilify  our 

230 


The  Church  Begins  to  Revive  in  England. 

doctrines  to  the  Protestant  world, 
that  so  our  very  idiocy,  or  our  secret 
unbelief,  might  be  our  plea  for  mercy. 
— Newman,  "The  Second  Spring/' 

Emancipation  had  given  the  Catholic 
Church  liberty,  and  that  is  all  she  needs. 
Unlike  those  sects  which  depend  for  their 
permanence  on  the  support  of  the  civil 
power,  she  is  able  to  stand  alone.  She 
could  now  come  into  the  light  and  speak 
for  herself.  She  could  set  forth  her  doc- 
trines, defend  them,  dispel  calumny  and 
misrepresentation,  and  present  her  claims 
to  the  English-speaking  world.  Of  course 
the  power  of  the  Tradition  made  itself 
felt.  There  were  few  who  listened  to 
her,  but  those  who  did  listen  soon  learned 
to  recognize  the  voice  of  God's  messen- 
ger. Little  by  little  the  leaven  began  to 
work  in  the  lump.  Little  by  little  men 
saw  that  she  was  a  living  organization 
with  a  mission  not  to  be  despised.  Her 
children  rallied  round  her,  as  faithful  in 
the  days  of  freedom  as  they  had  been  in 
the  days  of  adversity.     As  yet  they  were 

231 


The  Divisions  of  English  Protestantism. 

but  a  little  flock;  but  two  movements  now 
began  which  were  destined  to  bring  thou- 
sands to  her  fold  and  to  make  her,  as  she 
had  been  of  old,  the  joyful  mother  of 
children. 

The  first  of  these  movements  began  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Established  Church  it- 
self. You  may  remember  that  I  described 
to  you  two  parties  which  existed  among 
the  English  Protestants  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  Protestantism.  As  Protestant- 
ism means  a  protest  against  the  Old  Faith, 
it  is  only  natural  that  there  should  be  de- 
grees in  that  protest.  Some  rejected  more 
doctrines  than  the  others.  Thus,  the  Pres- 
byterians reject  government  by  Bishops, 
and  the  Congregationalists  reject  govern- 
ment by  Presbyteries.  We  thus  have  in 
English  Protestantism  two  great  wings  or 
parties,  commonly  known  as  High  Church 
and  Low  Church.  In  the  time  of  Charles 
IT.  the  Puritans,  or  the  Extreme  Low 
Churchmen,  were  forced  out  of  the  Es- 
tablishment, and  formed  the  dissenting 
sects,  or,  as  we  call  them  now,   Baptists, 

232 


Triumph  of  the  Low  Church  Party. 

Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists.  Still, 
only  the  extremists  left  the  Establish- 
ment, and  the  body  of  the  Anglican 
clergy  were  thoroughly  opposed  to  any- 
thing savoring  of  Catholicism,  even 
though  they  did  submit  to  government  by 
Bishops. 

Of  course  you  understand  that  in  the 
English  Church  the  government  appoints 
the  Bishops.  When  the  members  of  a 
government  are  of  Low  Church  procliv- 
ities it  is  only  natural  that  they  should 
appoint  Low  Church  Bishops.  This  was 
the  practice  followed  after  the  revolution 
of  1688,  and  we  learn  from  Protestant 
authority  that  those  Bishops  were  more 
intent  on  their  own  advancement  than  on 
the  betterment  of  the  spiritual  condition 
of  their  flocks: 

A  large  number  of  the  prelates 
were  mere  Whig  partisans,  with  no 
higher  aim  than  that  of  their  own 
promotion.  ...  A  Welsh  Bishop 
avowed  that  he  had  seen  his  dio- 
cese but  once.  ...  A  shrewd, 
if    prejudiced,    observer    brands    the 

233 


Utter  Decadence  of  Anglican  Church. 

English  clergy  of  the  day  as  the  most 
lifeless  in  Europe,  "the  most  remisi 
of  their  labors  in  private  and  the  least 
severe  in  their  lives."  There  was  a 
revolt  against  religion  and  against 
churches  in  both  the  extremes  of  Eng- 
lish society.  In  the  higher  circles  of 
society  "every  one  laughs,"  said  Mon- 
tesquieu, on  his  visit  to  England,  "if 
one  talks  of  religion."  Of  the  promi- 
nent statesmen  of  the  time,  the  greater 
part  were  unbelievers  in  any  form  of 
Christianity,  and  distinguished  for  the 
grossness  and  immorality  of  their 
lives.  ...  At  the  other  end  of 
the  social  scale  lay  the  masses  of  the 
poor.  They  were  ignorant  and  brutal 
to  a  degree  which  it  is  hard  to  con- 
ceive, for  the  increase  of  population 
which  followed  on  the  growth  of 
towns  and  the  development  of  com- 
merce had  been  met  by  no  effort  for 
their  religious  or  educational  im- 
provement. Not  a  new  parish  had 
been  created.  Schools  there  were  none, 
save  the  grammar  schools  of  Edward 
and  Elizabeth,  and  some  newly  es- 
tablished "circulating  schools"  in 
Wales,  for  religious  education.     The 

234 


Debased  Conditions  of  Public  Morals. 


rural  peasantry,  who  were  fast  being 
reduced  to  pauperism  by  the  abuse  of 
the  Poor  Laws  were  left  without 
much  moral  or  religious  support  of 
any  sort.  "We  saw  only  one  Bible  in 
the  parish  of  Cheddar,"  said  Hannah 
More,  at  a  far  later  time,  "and  that 
was  used  to  prop  a  flower  pot."  With- 
in the  towns,  things  were  worse. 
There  was  no  effective  police,  and  in 
great  outbreaks  the  mob  of  London 
or  Birmingham  burnt  houses,  flung 
open  prisons,  and  sacked  and  pillaged 
at  their  will.  The  criminal  class 
gathered  numbers  and  boldness  in  the 
face  of  ruthless  laws,  which  only  tes- 
tified to  the  terror  of  society — laws 
which  made  it  a  capital  crime  to  cut 
down  a  cherry  tree,  and  which  strung 
up  twenty  young  thieves  of  a  morning 
in  front  of  Newgate;  while  the  intro- 
duction of  gin  gave  a  new  impetus  to 
drunkenness;  in  the  streets  of  London 
at  one  time  gin  shops  invited  every 
passer-by  to  get  drunk  for  a  penny  or 
dead  drunk  for  twopence. — "Green's 
Short  History  of  the  English  People," 
Chap.  X. 

The    first    attempt    to    remedy    this    sad 

235 


The  Movement  Under  the  Wesleys. 

state  of  affairs  was  made  by  the  Wesleys. 
John  Wesley  was  a  clergyman  in  the  Es- 
tablished Church,  and,  to  the  end,  he  did 
not  wish  to  break  with  it.  His  movement, 
however,  was  on  extreme  Low  Church 
lines,  and  soon  the  Methodists  became  a 
separate  sect.  But  they  had  broken  the 
torpor  of  the  Establishment,  and  by  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century  signs 
were  not  wanting  that  many  of  the 
thoughtful  and  earnest  men  of  that  com- 
munion were  seriously  considering  their 
relations  both  to  their  own  church  and  to 
the  other  churches  into  which  Christen- 
dom is  divided. 

Oxford  is  one  of  the  great  English  uni- 
versities. Founded  in  Catholic  times,  and 
endowed  by  a  Catholic  generosity,  it  be- 
came, after  the  Reformation,  thoroughly 
Protestant.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
clergymen  of  the  Established  Church  re- 
ceived their  training  in  its  colleges,  and 
the  most  scholarly  men  in  Anglican  Or- 
ders occupied  its  fellowships  and  pro- 
fessorial  chairs.     In   the   eighteenth   cen- 

236 


The  Oxford  Men  and  the  Historic  Church. 

tury  Methodism  took  its  rise  in  Oxford, 
and  in  the  nineteenth  century  another  re- 
ligious movement,  the  very  opposite  of 
Methodism,  found  its  origin  there. 

The  Church  is  a  historical  fact.  She 
was  founded  by  Christ  and  she  has  come 
down  all  the  centuries  to  our  day.  In 
breaking  away  from  Rome  the  Protes- 
tants had  justified  their  schism  on  the  plea 
that  Rome  had  departed  from  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  Apostles.  The  extreme 
Protestants  held  that  nothing  should  be 
believed  or  practiced  for  which  there  was 
not  clear  warrant  in  the  Bible.  The  less 
extreme  Protestants,  or  Anglicans,  held 
that  the  belief  and  practice  of  the  Church 
in  the  first  four  or  five  centuries  should 
be  the  rule  and  guide  of  the  Church  now. 
The  new  movement  arose  from  a  his- 
torical study  of  those  centuries.  It  was 
not  a  popular  movement;  it  was,  on  the 
contrary,  begun  among  the  fellows  and 
professors,  and  had  its  chief  strength 
among  men  of  learning.  From  their  read- 
ing they   reconstructed   the   Church   as   it 

237 


The  High  Church  Theory;  Ritualism. 

stood  in  the  early  ages,  and  they  compared 
it  with  the  body  to  which  they  belonged. 
They  found  that  Anglicanism  had  degen- 
erated into  a  mere  department  of  the  Eng- 
lish  civil   service,   without   knowledge   of 
what  she  believed,  and  without  power  to 
teach  it.     They  saw  the  ancient  Church, 
full  of  life  and  vigor,  with  a  creed  which 
was   inculcated    authoritatively   and   with- 
out equivocation.   They  believed  that  their 
Church   was   the   lineal   successor  of   this 
ancient  Church'.     They  thought  that  the 
Reformation    had   been    only    a    reforma- 
tion— not  the   introduction   of   a   new   re- 
ligion.     They    had    no    love    for    Rome. 
She  was  filled  with  abominations,  though 
they  confessed  that,  equally  with  England 
and  Russia,  she  was  a  branch  of  the  one 
great     Catholic     Church.     They     called 
themselves    Catholics,    but,    as    they    said, 
not  Roman  Catholics.     They  spurned  the 
title  Protestant  and  spoke  with  bitterness 
of   the   Reformers.     They  wished   to   re- 
store the  old  ideals,  to  teach  the  old  doc- 
trines,   to   bring   back   the   old    practices. 

238 


Puseyites;    Tractarians;    Oxford  Movement. 

They  did  not  want  the  Pope.  It  was  an 
essential  portion  of  their  theory  that  their 
Church  was  independent.  But,  short  of 
the  Pope,  they  would  be  Catholics.  From 
their  elaborate  ritual  they  were  called 
Ritualists;  from  one  of  their  great  lead- 
ers, Dr.  Pusey,  they  were  called  Pusey- 
ites. From  the  fact  that  they  began 
their  agitation  by  the  publication  of  a 
series  of  Tracts  of  the  Times,  they  were 
called  Tractarians,  and  the  whole  move- 
ment is  commonly  spoken  of  as  the  Ox- 
ford Movement. 

The  greatest  of  all  the  Tractarians  was 
John  Henry  Newman.  His  piety,  his 
learning,  his  power  of  expression  made 
him  the  soul  of  the  party.  He  was  sin- 
cere in  his  belief  that  the  Anglican 
Church  was  the  Church  of  Christ,  and 
for  ten  years,  from  1833  to  1843,  he 
labored  as  few  men  can  labor  to  advance 
her  cause.  From  the  beginning  Catholics 
who  were  watching  the  movement  pro- 
phesied where  it  would  end.  They  saw 
with   the   instinct   of   the    faith   that   once 

239 


John  Henry  Newman  Their  Leader. 

the  idea  of  a  teaching  Church  took  pos- 
session of  the  minds  of  those  generous 
and  devoted  men  logic  would  lead 
them  to  the  one  Fold.  Newman,  how- 
ever, believed  most  firmly  in  the  divine 
character  of  Anglicanism  until  a  rude 
shock  showed  him  that  she  was  Protes- 
tant to  the  core.  One  of  the  tracts 
known  as  Tract  90  tried  to  prove 
that  the  chief  Catholic  doctrines  are  not 
inconsistent  with  the  Anglican  formula 
of  faith  known  as  the  Thirty-nine  Arti- 
cles. The  authorities  of  the  Establish- 
ment took  the  alarm.  They  knew  they 
were  Protestants,  and  they  did  not  want 
any  one  to  turn  them  into  Catholics  by 
sleight  of  hand.  They  condemned  the 
tract,  and  Newman  began  to  see  that  the 
church  he  loved  so  well  was  not  the 
same  as  that  glorious  old  Church  of  the 
first  centuries  of  which  history  tells.  But 
the  vision  came  slowly.  For  four  long 
and  weary  years  the  conviction  was  grow- 
ing: on  him  that  the  Church  of  Rome 
was    the    Church    of    the    Fathers.      The 

240 


His  Conversion  a  Blow  to  the  Establishment. 

conviction  was  unwelcome;  he  fought 
against  it.  He  was  forty-four  years  of 
age,  and  all  his  friendships  were  in  the 
English  Church,  and  his  affectionate  na- 
ture clung  to  the  University  as  a  child  to 
its  mother.  Rome,  too,  he  had  been  taught 
was  filled  with  abominations,  and  he  had 
spoken  bitterly  against  her.  For  four 
years  the  conflict  went  on.  At  last  the 
light  shone  upon  him  and  he  who  had 
prayed  so  many  years  before  "Lead, 
Kindly  Light,"  arose  and  followed  the 
light.  It  led  him  from  his  father's  house, 
from  his  own  people,  but  it  led  him  into 
the  one  Fold  and  to  the  feet  of  Him 
who  is  the  true  Shepherd  of  our  souls. 

Newman  became  a  Catholic  in  1845, 
and  the  sensation  was  immense.  Disraeli 
said  that  his  secession  from  Anglicanism 
"dealt  a  blow  to  the  Church  of  England, 
under  which  she  still  reels."  The  Oxford 
Movement  was  having  its  logical  results. 
Some  of  the  most  distinguished  clergymen 
in  England  laid  down  their  benefices  and 
became    Catholics.      Between    1842    and 

241 


The  Irish  Immigration  Into  England. 

1856  over  two  hundred  ministers,  besides 
many  laymen,  had  left  the  Establishment; 
by  1867  the  total  number  of  notable  con- 
verts  had   risen   nearly   to   nine   hundred. 

While  this  movement  gave  much  pres- 
tige to  the  Church,  the  numbers,  as  com- 
pared with  the  Anglican  population,  were 
inconsiderable.  But  in  the  forties  began 
another  movement  which  was  destined  to 
treble  the  Catholic  strength  in  fifty  years. 
In  1845  the  population  of  Ireland  was 
over  eight  millions,  but  the  great  famine 
soon  came,  and  the  people  fled  from 
their  native"  land.  The  vast  majority  came 
to  America,  but  over  half  a  million 
settled  in  the  English  towns.  They 
brought  their  religion  with  them,  and  soon 
the  English  priests  and  English  chapels 
became  too  small  for  their  increasing  num- 
bers. Their  own  priests  came  at  their  call 
and  the  unfailing  generosity  of  the  race 
provided   means   for  stately   churches. 

It  is  often  thought  by  those  outside  the 
Church  that  Catholics  are  naturally  clan- 
nish.    In  this  country  we  are  accused  of 

242 


Race  Prejudice  and  Race  Hatred. 

combining,  irrespective  of  party  politics, 
in  favor  of  Catholic  candidates.  If  this 
were  true  it  would  be  a  most  extraordin- 
ary phenomenon.  Race  prejudice  and 
race  hatred  lie  very  deep  in  human 
nature.  The  Catholic  Frenchman  has  ne 
particular  love  for  the  Catholic  German, 
and  when  both  Ireland  and  England  were 
Catholic  nations  the  struggle  between 
them  raged  as  fiercely  as  to-day.  When 
the  Catholic  Irish  poured  into  England 
the  English  Catholics  did  not  regard 
them  with  a  friendly  eye.  They  were  on 
opposite  sides  in  politics,  and  it  is  said 
that  once,  when  some  prominent  Catholics 
of  the  old  Tory  families  opposed  some 
measure  of  O'Connell's  the  great  Liber- 
ator declared,  with  a  sigh,  "God  forgive 
me  for  emancipating  them." 

Such  things  must  be,  because  such  is 
human  nature.  But  the  Catholic  Church 
guards  against  their  evil  effects  by  keep- 
ing politics  and  race  hatred  out  of  her 
sanctuary.  She  is  true  to  the  ideal  of  the 
Fatherhood  of   God   and   Brotherhood  of 

243 


Irish  and  English  Work  Together  for  Church. 


Man.  Inside  the  doors  of  her  churches 
partisan  politics  must  never  enter;  her 
pulpits  are  sacred  to  the  word  of  God,  and 
must  not  be  defiled  by  the  petty  ambitions 
of  man.  Rich  and  poor,  gentle  and  sim- 
ple, Whig  and  Tory,  Republican  and 
Democrat,  red  man  and  black  man,  white 
man  and  yellow,  kneel  before  her  altars, 
and  all  are  equal — God  is  their  Father, 
and  they  are  brethren  of  Christ  Jesus. 

So  it  was  that  even  though  the  old  race 
feeling  might  exist,  Irish  Catholic  and 
English  Catholic  joined  hands  in  building 
up  the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  The  little 
chapels  were  changed  into  beautiful 
churches,  and  like  her  Saviour  rising  from 
the  tomb  the  Catholic  Church  appeared 
before  the  English  people  glorious  and 
immortal— the  Milk  White  Hind  oft 
doomed  to  death  though  fated  not  to  die. 

The  result  of  the  Irish  immigration  and 
of  the  Oxford  Movement  was  such  an  ex- 
tension of  the  Catholic  organization  that 
the  old  methods  were  inadequate  for  the 
new   needs.     The   normal   government  of 

244 


The  Organization  of  the  Hierarchy. 

the  Church  is  by  Bishops.  The  Apostle 
of  old  went  to  a  town  and  there  preached 
the  faith.  While  he  remained  there  he 
was  the  teaching  Church;  all  that  came  to 
him  were  his  disciples.  When  he  passed 
to  another  place  he  choose  some  one  to 
carry  on  his  office  of  teaching  and  ruling. 
That  successor  was  known  as  a  Bishop, 
and  he  was  the  ruler  of  that  particular 
flock.  In  course  of  time  every  consider- 
able city  had  a  Bishop.  All  were  prac- 
tically equal,  and  at  the  head  of  them  was 
the  Chief  of  the  Apostles,  St.  Peter. 
When  he  died  his  successors  took  his  place 
and  thus  we  have  the  present  system  of 
government  by  means  of  the  Pope  and 
the  Bishops.  The  city  in  which  the  Bishop 
dwelt  was  called  his  See  or  Seat.  The 
territory  surrounding  that  city  is  known 
as  a  Diocese.  Several  dioceses  are  grouped 
into  a  Province,  and  the  Bishop  of  the 
chief  dioceses  is  known  as  an  Archbishop 
or  Metropolitan.  In  Catholic  times  Eng- 
land consisted  of  two  provinces,  Canter- 
bury   and    York,    and    some    twenty    dio- 

245 


How  the  English  Hierarchy  Died  Out. 

ceses.  In  the  time  of  Elizabeth  the  Cath- 
olic Bishops  were  dispossessed  of  their 
Sees,  and  Protestant  ministers  were  made 
Bishops  by  act  of  Parliament.  Of  course 
they  were  not  Bishops  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word,  neither  did  they  claim  to  be. 
Elizabeth,  who  was  given  to  violent  lan- 
guage, used  to  swear  at  them  when  they 
would  not  do  her  bidding,  and  remind 
them  that  as  she  had  made  them  so  also 
she  could  unmake  them.  Thus  it  came 
to  pass  that  the  old  hierarchy  disappeared 
in  1584  with  the  death  of  the  last  Bishop 
of  Lincoln.  For  a  period  of  nearly  forty 
years,  owing  to  the  bitterness  of  the  per- 
secution, the  Catholics  were  left  without 
a  shepherd,  until  1623,  when  a  Vicar- 
Apostolic  was  appointed.  A  Vicar-Apos- 
tolic is  a  substitute  for  a  Bishop.  It  is  a 
temporary  form  of  government,  and  bears 
about  the  same  relation  to  Episcopal  gov- 
ernment that  a  territory  does  to  a  state.  In 
1688  four  vicars  were  appointed,  and  the 
number  was  raised  to  eight  in  1840. 
With  the  growth  of  the  Church  came 

246 


The  Pope  Restores  the  English  Hierarchy. 

the  natural  desire  to  have  the  normal  form 
of  Church  government.  The  old  sees,  it 
is  true,  were  gone,  but  the  same  power 
that  made  them  in  the  days  of  Augustine 
might  make  new  sees  now.  From  1840 
onward  the  matter  was  agitated  among  the 
English  Catholics.  In  the  year  1850 
Pius  IX.  acceded  to  their  wishes  and  re- 
stored the  hierarchy.  Westminster  was 
made  an  Archbishopric,  with  twelve  other 
dioceses.  The  first  Archbishop,  Dr.  Wise- 
man, received  the  Cardinal's  hat,  and  by 
a  letter  dated  "Out  of  the  Flaminian  Gate 
of  Rome"  he  announced  the  joyful  news  to 
his  coreligionists. 

Of  course  this  was  a  purely  ecclesias- 
tical act  and  dealt  solely  with  the  internal 
administration  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  Pope  had  nothing  to  say  to  the  Es- 
tablishment, and  he  said  nothing.  But 
the  politicians  were  at  hand  to  make  cap- 
ital out  of  it.  Lord  John  Russell  was  in  a 
very  bad  temper.  You  remember  that,  in 
the  Established  Church,  Bishops  are  ap- 
pointed by   the   government.     The   nomi- 

247 


Lord  John  Russell's  Durham  Letter. 

nees  of  Lord  John  Russell  were  not 
thought  well  of  by  the  Tractarians,  and 
the)'  had  expressed  their  opinions  openly, 
both  about  the  new  Bishops  and  the  min- 
ister who  made  them.  Lord  John  Russell 
was  anxious  to  get  even,  and,  in  the 
Pope's  Bull  re-establishing  the  hierarchy 
he  saw  his  opportunity.  The  eve  of  the 
celebration  of  Guy  Fawkes'  Day  he  pub- 
lished an  open  letter  to  the  Anglican 
Bishop  of  Durham.  In  it  he  evoked  the 
ancient  Ghosts,  and  spoke  of  (<the  inso- 
lent and  insidious  aggression  of  the  Pope 
upon  our  Protestantism."  His  severest 
condemnation,  however,  was  reserved  for 
the  Tractarians,  whom  he  accused  of  do- 
ing the  work  of  Rome  within  the  Estab- 
lishment and  of  leading  their  flocks  "step 
by  step  to  the  very  verge  of  the  precipice." 
The  time  of  the  letter  was  well  chosen. 
The  5th  of  November  is  the  grand  Car- 
nival of  the  Ghosts.  Lord  John  Russellrs 
letter  started  the  incantation,  and  the 
clergy  of  the  Establishment  took  it  up. 
The  people  were  stirred  to  their  depths. 

248 


Wild  Outbreak  Against  the  Church. 

The  greatest  of  the  English  newspapers 
and  the  worst,  the  London  Times,  thun- 
dered against  Rome.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
vestry  at  Exeter,  the  gallant  vestrymen 
expressed  their  sentiments  as  follows: 
''Resolved,  That  the  meeting  defies  the 
Pope  and  the  devil;  and  that  they  also 
repudiate  all  bishops,  deans,  canons, 
priests  or  deacons  who  have  the  least 
tendency  to   Puseyism." 

Instead  of  Guy  Fawkes,  the  Pope,  Car- 
dinal Wiseman  and  the  new  Bishops 
were  committed  to  the  flames.  The  follow- 
ing extracts  from  local  newspapers  may 
give  a  faint  idea  of  the  proceedings: 

At  Salisbury,  on  Wednesday,  the 
effigies  of  His  Holiness  the  Pope,  Car- 
dinal Wiseman,  and  the  twelve  Bish- 
ops were  completed.  Friday  evening 
about  5  p.  m.,  Castle  street  was  so 
densely  crowded  that  no  one  could 
pass  to  -the  upper  end  of  it.  Shortly 
after,  some  hundreds  of  torches  were 
lighted,  which  then  exhibited  a  forest 
of  heads.  About  half-past  six  His 
Holiness  was  brought  out,   amid  the 

249 


Examples  of  Protestant  Piety. 

cheering  of  the  populace.  The  pro- 
cession being  formed,  proceeded  in 
the  following  order:  Torch-bearers, 
brass  band,  torch-bearers,  His  Holi- 
ness in  full  pontificals,  seated  in  a 
huge  chair;  torch-bearers,  Bishops, 
three  abreast;  torch-bearers,  Cardi- 
nal Wiseman,  etc.,  etc.  Within  the 
precincts  of  the  close  the  national  an- 
them was  played  amid  deafening 
cheers.  At  this  time  the  scene  was 
very  imposing.  The  procession  hav- 
ing paraded  the  city,  the  effigies  were 
taken  to  the  Green  Croft,  where,  over 
a  large  number  of  faggots  and  barrels 
of  tar,  a  huge  platform  was  erected 
of  timber;  the  effigies  were  placed 
thereon,  and  a  volley  of  rockets  sent 
up.  The  band  played  the  doxology, 
and  deafening  cheers  followed.  A 
light  being  applied  to  the  combusti- 
bles below,  the  flames  rose  to  the  plat- 
form; hundreds  of  fireworks  were 
then  hurled  at  the  effigies.  Then  fol- 
lowed the  morning  hymn  and  the 
national  anthem,  in  which  thousands 
joined. 

At   Ware    on   Tuesday   week    His 
Holiness,    Pio    Nono,    was    burnt   in 

250 


And  Hatred  of  the  Cardinal  and  the  Pope. 

effigy,  on  an  eminence  overlooking  the 
town.  The  figure  was  dressed  in  full 
pontificals,  with  the  triple  crown  on  its 
head,  and  the  addition  of  a  large  pair 
of  ram's  horns.  In  the  wagon  was  a 
donkey  to  represent  His  Excellency 
the  Cardinal-Archbishop  of  West- 
minster. After  solemnly  parading  the 
streets,  the  effigy  was  escorted  by  a 
large  concourse  of  people  to  IVIusley 
Hill,  where  it  was  solemnly  suspended 
by  the  neck  on  a  gallows  erected  over 
a  huge  pile  of  faggot-wood  and  tar 
barrels,  and  then  burned  amid  the 
roars  and  execrations  of  the  multi- 
tude. 

At  Peckham  the  Pope  was  burned 
in  effigy  on  Peckham  Common.  A  van 
drawn  by  four  horses  drew  up  front- 
ing a  house  on  the  Green,  from  which 
emerged  some  dozen  men,  armed  with 
various  weapons,  each  leading  a  man 
attired  in  the  surplice  of  a  Romish 
clergyman,  the  latter  being  tumbled 
into  the  vehicle  amid  the  shouts  of 
several  thousand  persons.  The  next 
brought  out  were  two  athletic  fellows, 
one  attired  as  a  Cardinal  and  the 
other  as  his  chaplain.     A  few  yards 

251 


Why  Protestantism  Cleaves  to  the  State. 

in  advance  stood  an  Herculean  fellow 
bearing  a  burlesque  effigy  of  the  Pope 
and  having  in  his  hand  what  pur- 
ported to  be  the  late  memorable  Bull. 
The  procession  proceeded  towards 
Camberwell  followed  at  least  by 
10,000  persons.  It  was  hailed  in  its 
progress  through  the  various  streets 
wi'h  the  loudest  acclamations,  and 
cries  of  "No  Popery!"  "Hurrah  for 
the  Queen  I"  "No  foreign  priesthood!" 
etc.,  etc. 

Those  demonstrations  did  not  hurt  any 
one  and  they  pleased  the  free  born  Briton. 
But  more  dangerous  measures  were  pre- 
paring. It  is  often  brought  as  a  charge 
against  the  Catholic  Church  that  she  seeks 
a  union  with  the  State.  It  is  said,  es- 
pecially in  America,  that  Catholics  are 
plotting  to  procure  an  establishment  of  re- 
ligion. Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the 
truth.  The  Church,  it  is  true,  does  not 
wish  to  be  at  war  with  the  State,  because 
such  hostility  is  opposed  to  the  interest  of 
the  people;  but  at  the  same  time  she  will 
never  consent   to  become   a  mere   depart- 

252 


Demands  of  Preachers  for  Persecution. 

ment  of  the  State.  She  has  her  own  sphere 
in  the  spiritual  world,  and  she  derives  her 
power  not  from  the  State  but  from  her 
Founder.  Now,  on  the  contrary,  an  exam- 
ination of  historical  facts  will  show  us  that 
the  sects  which  are  so  ready  to  accuse  us 
of  invoking  State  aid,  are  themselves  the 
first  to  call  in  the  temporal  arm  when  they 
consider  their  privileges  in  danger.  Hence 
all  those  societies  for  disfranchising  Cath- 
olics; hence  all  those  persecuting  laws  in 
the  past,  and  all  these  propositions  for  in- 
vidious legislation  now;  hence  mob  vio- 
lence; hence  those  appeals  to  legislatures, 
to  governments,   to  ministers  of   State. 

True  to  its  instincts,  the  Established 
Church  of  England  immediately  demanded 
repressive  measures.  The  power  of  Par- 
liament was  invoked.  The  clergy  of 
Middlesex  lifted  up  their  voices  and 
called  for  aid : 

We,  therefore,  feel  it  our  bounden 
duty  at  this  unprecedented  crisis  to 
protest  against  this  usurpation  of  au- 
thority by  a   foreign   prelate,   and   to 

253 


From  the  Highest  Anglican  Clerics. 

invite  the  co-operation  of  our  lay 
brethren  in  prevailing  on  Her  Majes- 
ty's government,  and  if  necessary  on 
the  legislature,  to  adopt  such  meas- 
ures as  shall  cause  this  schismatic  and 
intrusive  step  to  be  retraced,  and  to 
prevent  those  evil  consequences  to  our 
national  institutions  which  it  must 
otherwise   produce. 

The  Archdeacon  of  London  had  no 
scruple,  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  of  advocating  a  return  to  the  pe- 
nal enactments  of  William  of  Orange.  He 
said  in  an  address  to  the  clergy: 

If  these  evils  are  to  be  avoided  it 
must  be,  under  God's  blessing,  by  a 
combination  scarcely  less  powerful 
and  united  than  that  which,  in  1688, 
prevented  James  II.  from  carrying 
into  effect  his  wishes  for  the  conver- 
sion of  England  to  Popery.  That  our 
Bishops  will,  both  in  and  out  of  Par- 
liament, do  their  duty  in  endeavoring 
to  deliver  our  Protestant  country 
from  Papal  aggression  we  cannot 
doubt. 
The  London  Times,  encouraged  by  the 

254 


And  Most  Powerful  Organs  of  Press. 

outcry,  prophesied  that  the  new  hierarchy 
would  soon  be  ended.  Commenting  on  a 
pastoral  letter  of  Dr.  Ullathorne,  one  of 
the  new  Bishops,  it  said: 

Let  Dr.  Ullathorne  imagine,  if  he 
can,  on  the  faith  of  history,  which  he 
dare  not  quote,   that  the  foundations 
of   his   episcopal   chair  will   only   be 
consolidated  by  the  interference  of  the 
State.     We  tell  him  that  the  days  of 
his  episcopate  are  numbered,  and  that 
it  is  not  because  his  chair  is  built  up- 
on   a    rock,    but   merely   because    his 
appointment  has  been   adroitly  made 
during  the  recess  of  Parliament,  that 
he  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  seat, 
the  foundations  of  which  he  dreams 
are  eternal;    and   that,   though   it  be 
not  in  the  power  of  our  Legislature 
to  prevent  him  from  having  been  the 
first  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  of  Bir- 
mingham, it  will,  most  assuredly,  be 
their   will,    and    completely    in    their 
power,  to  provide  that  he  shall  be  the 
last. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  such  editorials  as 
that  should  fire  the  Anglican  preachers  to 

255 


Death  the  Only  Remedy  for  Confession. 

frenzy.      One    got    into    his    pulpit    and 
howled : 

I  would  make  it  a  capital  offense  to 
administer  the  Confession  in  this 
country.  Transportation  would  not 
satisfy  me,  for  that  would  merely 
transfer  the  evil  from  one  part  of  the 
world  to  the  other.  Capital  punish- 
ment alone  would  satisfy  me.  Death 
alone  would  prevent  the  evil.  That  is 
my  sober  conviction. 

And  so  the  storm  raged.  Newman  has 
described  it  so  humorously  and  yet  so  truly 
that  I  cannot  help  quoting  his  words: 

Heresy,  and  skepticism,  and  infi- 
delity, and  fanaticism,  may  challenge 
the  Establishment  in  vain;  but  fling 
upon  the  gale  the  faintest  whisper  of 
Catholicism,  and  it  recognizes  by  in- 
stinct the  presence  of  its  connatural 
foe.  Forthwith,  as  during  the  last 
year,  the  atmosphere  is  tremulous 
with  agitation,  and  discharges  its  vi- 
brations far  and  wide.  A  movement 
is  in  birth  which  has  no  natural  crisis 
or  resolution.  Spontaneously  the  bells 
of  the  steeples  begin  to  sound.     Not 

256 


Newman  Describes  the  Agitation. 

by  an  act  of  volition,  but  by  a  sort  of 
mechanical  impulse,  bishop  and  dean, 
archdeacon  and  canon,  rector  and  cu- 
rate, one  after  another,  each  on  his 
high  tower,  off  they  set  swinging  and 
booming,  toiling  and  chiming,  with 
nervous  intenseness,  and  thickening 
emotion,  and  deepening  volume,  the 
old  ding-dong  which  has  scared  town 
and  country  this  weary  time ;  tolling 
and  chiming  away,  jingling  and  clam- 
oring and  ringing  the  changes  on  their 
poor  half-dozen  notes,  all  about  "the 
Popish  aggression,"  "insolent  and  in- 
sidious," "insidious  and  insolent,"  "in- 
solent and  atrocious,"  "atrocious  and 
insolent,"  "atrocious,  insolent  and  un- 
grateful," "ungrateful,  insolent  and 
atrocious,"  "foul  and  offensive,"  "pes- 
tilent and  horrid,"  "subtle  and  un- 
holy," "audacious  and  revolting," 
"contemptible  and  shameless,",  "ma- 
lignant," "frightful,"  "mad,"  "mere- 
tricious,"— bobs  (I  think  the  ringers 
call  them),  bobs,  and  bobs-royal,  and 
triple-bobs-majors,  and  grandsires — 
to  the  extent  of  their  compass  and  the 
full  ring  of  their  metal,  in  honor  of 
Queen  Bess,  and  to  the  confusion  of 

257 


The  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Act. 

the  Holy  Father  and  the  Princes  of 
the  Church. — "Present  Position  of 
Catholics,"  ii. 

But  the  fanatics  were  not  to  have  it  all 
their  own  way.  The  days  had  passed  when 
Catholics  could  be  abused  and  then  hanged 
if  they  dared  answer  back.  The  Catholic 
leaders  were  able  to  defend  themselves  in 
print,  and  the  increase  in  the  Catholic 
population  in  the  large  cities  made  it  im- 
politic for  the  pious  mob  to  repeat  the 
scenes  of  the  Gordon  Riot.  The  Tract- 
arians,  too,  were  not  afraid  to  speak  out, 
and  soon  Lord  John  Russell  was  convinced 
he  had  made  a  mistake.  It  was  well 
known  that  he  was  very  anxious  to  find  a 
way  out  of  the  difficulty,  and  one  of  the 
comic  journals  of  the  time  pictured  him 
as  a  little  boy  who  had  chalked  "No 
Popery1'  on  Cardinal  Wiseman's  door  and 
was  running  away  afraid  of  being  caught 

But  it  was  now  too  late  to  back  down, 
and  when  Parliament  met  in  February, 
1851,  a  bill  was  introduced  making  it  ille- 
gal for  Catholic  priests  to  assume  eccle- 

258 


Killed  by  Courage  of  John  McHale. 

siastical  titles  in  the  United  Kingdom.  It 
was  called  the  Ecclesiasticals  Titles  Bill, 
and  became  a  law  in  July.  One  of  the 
strongest  speeches  made  against  it  came 
from  Gladstone,  who  said  "It  is  hostile  to 
the  institutions  of  the  country,  more  es- 
pecially to  its  established  religion,  be- 
cause it  would  teach  us  to  rely  on  other 
support  than  that  of  the  spiritual  strength 
and  vitality  which  alone  can  give  it  vigor.'' 

The  Act  made  it  unlawful  for  any  Cath- 
olic Bishop  to  take  the  name  of  a  place  in 
Great  Britain  as  his  title.  Scarcely  was  it 
passed  when  John  McHale  wrote  a  public 
letter  to  the  Prime  Minister,  signing  him- 
self John,  Archbishop  of  Tuam.  The  let- 
ter killed  the  Act.  It  was  never  put  in 
force,  and,  in  1 871 ,  was  quietly  repealed. 
Thus  was  laid  the  Ghost  of  a  Name. 

But  throughout  the  country  the  agita- 
tion continued.  We  know,  by  experience, 
what  such  an  agitation  means.  The 
preachers  abuse  the  Pope  and  the  Church; 
fallen  wretches,  known  as  ex-priests,  are 
trotted  around  to  retail  their  filth  to  the 

259 


Newman  and  the  ex-Priest  Achilli. 

extreme  Protestants,  who  are  willing  to 
believe  anything  vile.  Such  an  agitation 
raged  in  England  in  1850  and  1851.  Then, 
as  now,  there  were  feeble-minded  Catho- 
lics, who  deprecated  all  noise  and  tumult, 
and  who  thought  that  the  Pope  would  have 
done  better  to  let  well  enough  alone.  They 
had  been  so  long  in  chains  that  the  iron 
had  entered  into  their  souls. 

But  manlier  councils  prevailed  in  Eng- 
land. Newman  had  become  a  priest  after 
his  conversion,  and  was  living  in  Birming- 
ham. In  the  height  of  the  agitation  he 
delivered  those  wonderful  lectures,  entitled 
"The  Present  Position  of  Catholics  in 
England."  In  them  he  described  the  great 
Protestant  Tradition  and  tore  the  veil  from 
the  ignorance  and  the  prejudice  which  are 
the  life  of  the  Protestant  idea  of  Catholics. 
In  one  of  his  lectures  he  dealt  with  a  cer- 
tain Achilli,  an  Italian  ex-priest,  who 
was  touring  the  country  exposing  the 
iniquities  of  Rome.  Achilli  was  a  man  of 
infamous  life,  and  Newman  used  him  as 
an  illustration  of  the  sources  from  which 

260 


Cost  in  Damages  by  Prejudiced  Court. 

the  Protestant  Tradition  derives  its  knowl- 
edge of  the  Catholic  faith.  In  a  passage, 
which  is  a  masterpiece  of  invective,  he  de- 
scribed Achilli's  career.  Achilli  brought 
an  action  for  libel.  Newman  produced  a 
cloud  of  witnesses  and  proved  all  his 
charges;  but  he  was  dealing  with  a  British 
Protestant  jury,  in  a  season  of  anti-Catholic 
excitement.  The  Chief  Justice,  Lord 
Campbell,  delivered  a  most  unfair  charge, 
and  the  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  that  the 
libel  had  not  been  justified.  The  general 
impression,  even  of  non-Catholics,  was  that 
gross  injustice  was  done  to  Newman. 
Achilli  disappeared,  and  the  costs  of  the 
trial,  which  amounted  to  over  $60,000, 
were  paid  by  a  public  subscription,  taken 
up  all  over  the  world.  But  the  agitation 
was  killed.  The  ex-priest  business  was 
ruined.  The  sunlight  had  touched  the 
Ghost,  and  lo,  it  was  no  more. 

I  have  now  traced  the  history  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  England  from  the  days 
of  the  Reformation  to  our  own  time.  We 
have    seen    the    growth    of    the    English 

261 


The  Infallibility  of  the  Pope. 

Protestant  Tradition  and  we  are  watching 
its  decay.  The  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill 
was  the  last  legal  attempt  to  restrain  the 
free  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion. 

But  there  was  one  other  agitation  against 
the  Church,  which,  for  the  sake  of  com- 
pleteness, deserves  attention.  You  know 
the  Church  is  a  society,  and,  as  a  society, 
she  must  have  a  government  and  a  consti- 
tution. That  government  and  that  consti- 
tution were  given  her  by  Jesus  Christ  Him- 
self. Now  it  often  happens,  as  here  in  the 
United  States,  the  question  of  the  meaning 
of  the  Constitution  comes  up :  Is  such  and 
such  a  provision  constitutional?  Those 
questions  go  through  the  courts,  and  are 
finally  settled  by  our  Supreme  Court.  In 
the  Church  the  question  arises :  Is  such  and 
such  doctrine  revealed  by  Christ?  This 
question  may  be  discussed  for  a  time,  but 
is  finally  settled  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
namely,  the  Pope.  The  decision  is  not 
only  final,  but  infallible,  because  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  always  with  the  Church  to  guard 
it  from  error. 

262 


Gladstone  and  the  Irish  University. 

Catholics  had  always  explicitly  held 
that  the  Church — that  is  to  say,  the  whole 
society,  made  up  of  head  and  body — was  in- 
fallible when  deciding  a  question  of  faith 
and  morals.  They  had  implicitly  believed 
that  the  head  of  the  Church  enjoyed  this 
privilege  when  speaking  as  the  supreme 
teacher  of  Christendom.  This  latter  ques- 
tion, however,  began  to  be  discussed,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  define  it  explicitly. 
Therefore,  the  whole  Church  met  in  the 
Vatican  Council  of  1870,  and  promulgated 
the  decision  that  in  matters  of  faith  and 
morals  the  official  teaching  of  the  Pope 
was  infallible. 

This  added  no  new  doctrine  to  the  old 
faith;  no  more  than  a  decision  of  our  Su- 
preme Court  adds  a  new  article  to  our 
Constitution.  As  it  dealt  not  with  politics, 
not  with  history,  not  with  science,  not  with 
art,  but  with  religion,  no  one  could  im- 
agine that  it  would  be  considered  a  menace 
to  the  British  Constitution.  But  all  things 
are  possible  to  the  disappointed  politician. 
Gladstone  had  deserved  well  of  the  Cath- 

263 


His  Letter  on  the  Vatican  Decrees. 

olic  community  and  of  the  Irish  people. 
He  had  spoken  against  the  Ecclesiastical 
Titles  Bill  and  had  disestablished  the 
Protestant  Church  in  Ireland.  However, 
like  many  more  men  he  was  obstinate,  and 
thought  he  knew  better  than  the  Irish  what 
was  good  for  them.  One  of  the  chief  griev- 
ances of  that  country  was  the  university 
question.  The  Protestants  had  two  uni- 
versities, well  endowed,  and  the  Catholics 
had  none.  Gladstone  determined  to  rem- 
edy that  grievance.  Now  it  stands  to  rea- 
son that  if  a  statesman  wishes  to  provide  a 
university  for  Catholics  he  should  consult 
the  wishes  of  Catholics.  This  Gladstone 
unfortunately  would  not  do,  and  the  result 
was  that  the  Irish  Bishops  were  compelled 
to  reject  his  scheme.  As  a  consequence  he 
was  defeated  in  Parliament,  and  went  out 
of  office. 

In  1874  he  created  a  sensation  by  pub- 
lishing a  pamphlet  entitled,  "The  Vatican 
Decrees  in  Their  Bearing  on  Civil  Alle- 
giance." In  this  pamphlet  he  contended 
that  Catholics  could  not  be  good  citizens, 

264 


His  Withdrawal  of  the  Accusation. 


because  of  their  belief  in  the  infallibility 
of  the  Pope.  No  fewer  than  twenty-one 
pamphlets  were  published  in  reply,  and  in 
a  second  booklet  he  practically  withdrew 
his  accusation: 

I  cannot  but  say  that  the  immedi- 
ate purpose  of  my  appeal  has  been 
attained,  in  so  far  that  the  loyalty  of 
our  Roman  Catholic  fellow  subjects 
in  the  mass  remains  untainted  and 
secure. 

Thus  passed  the  last  of  the  Ghosts.  In 
the  short  time  since  emancipation  the 
Catholic  Church  has  shown  that  she  is 
able  to  hold  her  own.  She  met  those  who 
calumniated  her,  boldly,  and  she  demon- 
strated that  she  was  not  afraid  of  inves- 
tigation. This  is  the  result  of  free  discus- 
sion.  We  may  not  convince  those  who 
are  opposed  to  us,  but  we  can  remove  prej- 
udices and  misconceptions.  When  men 
look  into  our  eyes  and  hear  our  voice  they 
cannot  believe  us  the  bloodthirsty  and  cruel 
tyrants  which  the  Protestant  Tradition 
pictures  us  to  be.    Thus  though  they  may 

265 


Influence  of  the  Oxford  Movement. 

still  remain  in  their  own  creed  they  are 
tolerant  of  ours.  No  designing  politician 
can  convince  them  that  we  are  plotting 
against  their  rights.  They  know  us.  They 
can  ask  us  to  our  faces.  They  can  come 
into  our  churches  and  examine  our  institu- 
tions from  garret  to  cellar,  and  they  can 
judge  for  themselves.  Such  has  been  the 
effect  of  toleration  in  England.  Of  course 
its  work  is  not  complete.  Bigotry  and 
credulity  still  live;  but  bigotry  is  a  beaten 
cause,  and  the  bigots  know  it. 

Another  reason  for  the  passing  of  the 
Ghosts  is  to  be  found  in  the  success  of 
the  Oxford  Movement,  even  within  the 
Establishment.  Formerly  a  small  minor- 
ity, the  ritualists  are  now  in  the  majority. 
They  are  teaching  the  old  Catholic  doc- 
trines to  the  people,  and  as  the  Catholic 
doctrines  spread,  hostility  to  Catholicism 
is  dying  out.  In  half  a  century  the  Angli- 
can Church  has  sprung  back  three  hun- 
dred years.  She  is  now  nearly  in  the  same 
position,  as  regards  doctrine,  as  she  was  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  when  nothing 

266 


A  Steady  Stream  of  Conversions. 

separated  her  from  Rome  but  the  headship 
of  the  Pope. 

That  the  Anglican  Church,  as  a  Church, 
will  return  to  the  unity  of  Christendom  is, 
of  course,  more  than  any  man  can  say. 
When  we  consider  what  she  was  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century,  and  what  she  is 
now,  anything  is  possible.  But  she  is  a 
great  nursery  of  conversions.  When  men 
embrace  Catholic  teaching  they  must  be 
logical.  They  are  led  to  the  Pope.  A 
steady  stream  of  conversions  has  set  toward 
the  Catholic  Church,  and  in  England 
alone  a?  many  as  a  thousand  are  received 
into  the  one  Fold  each  month. 

This  brings  me  to  the  end  of  the  English 
Ghosts.  At  the  next  lecture  we  will  ex- 
amine the  history  of  our  own  Ghosts.  It 
has  been  hard  and  unpleasant  to  rake  up 
those  old  memories.  It  is  not  a  grateful 
task  to  relate  the  mistakes  of  the  past,  but 
from  them  we  learn  how  to  avoid  similar 
mistakes  now.  We  accuse  no  one  now  liv- 
ing of  the  responsibilitv  for  those  mistakes. 
When    Catholics    recount   the    persecution 

267 


Catholics  Should  Study  Their  Creed. 


of  their  fathers  in  the  faith  by  the  Protes- 
tants they  do  not  accuse  their  Protestant 
brethren  of  being  desirous  to  repeat  those 
atrocities,  and  they  are  justly  indignant 
when  some  preacher  reciting  the  story  of 
the  persecution  of  Protestants  by  Catholics 
declares  that  all  Catholics  would  burn, 
roast  and  hang  heretics  now  if  they  got  the 
chance. 

We  have  examined  the  history  of  those 
times  for  a  special  purpose,  namely,  to 
find  out  how  the  suspicion  and  distrust 
of  Catholicism  which  we  find  among  Eng- 
lish speaking  Protestants  originated.  We 
find  that  suspicion  and  distrust  were  fed  on 
Ghosts.  We  find  that  causeless  hatred  of 
the  Church  was  inculcated  for  political 
reasons  among  the  English  people,  and  we 
have  read  the  sad,  though  at  times  ludi- 
crous effects  produced  by  that  dread.  To 
the  Catholic  this  study  brings  home  the 
truth  that  his  religion  is  something  worth 
knowing  and  worth  defending.  He  is  face 
to  face  with  three  centuries  of  misrepresen- 
tation, and  the  tradition  of  three  centuries 

268 


Because  It  Has  Been  So  Misrepresented. 

is  not  dissipated  in  a  day.  To  the  non- 
Catholic  the  only  appeal  we  make  is: 
Examine.  In  these  lectures  I  have  not 
explained  Catholic  doctrine;  I  have  not 
offered  arguments  for  Catholic  dogma.  I 
have  simply  tried  to  find  out  why  it  is  that 
Protestants  are  afraid  of  the  Catholic 
Church  and  why  they  will  not  inquire  into 
her  claims.  I  have  tried  to  show  by  the 
facts  of  history  how  Catholicism  was  car- 
icatured for  three  centuries  and  denied  fair 
play.  I  have  tried  to  explain  how  our  non- 
Catholic  brethren  see  Ghosts  instead  of 
reality.  In  speaking  of  those  times  I  may 
have  used  harsh  language,  but  no  harsher 
than  good  Protestants  themselves  are  ac- 
customed to  use.  In  speaking  of  our  sep- 
arated brethren  to-day,  I  hope  I  have  used 
no  expression  which  would  give  reasonable 
grounds  for  offense.  To  those,  of  course, 
who  are  going  to  be  offended  with  cause 
or  without  it,  I  have  no  apology  to  offer. 
But  to  those  who  believe  in  truth,  who  be- 
lieve that  God  gave  them  their  reason  to 
find  out  His  will,  I  say:     Inquire.     Study 

269 


Ask  of  Protestants  Only  to  Inquire. 

our  claims.  Understand  our  doctrine.  Hear 
what  we  have  to  say  for  ourselves.  Do 
not  depend  on  second-hand  information, 
but  find  out  for  vourself.  This  is  all  we 
ask,  and  this  we  believe  will  be  sufficient. 


270 


VI.-ANTI-CATHOLIC    MOVE- 
MENTS IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


THE  object  of  the  Catholic  Truth 
Society  is  to  set  forth  the  teachings 
and  history  of  the  Catholic  Church 
from  the  Catholic  standpoint.  As  we  may 
be  reasonably  supposed  to  know  best  what 
our  teachings  mean,  it  is  only  right  that 
those  who  wish  to  examine  our  teachings 
should  learn  them  from  us.  It  is  also  a 
true  and  tried  maxim  that  one  story  is  good 
until  another  is  told;  therefore,  those  who 
have  all  their  lives  been  hearing  our  his- 
tory as  recorded  by  Protestants,  should,  in 
order  to  form  a  correct  judgment,  listen  to 
what  we  have  to  say  for  our  own  deeds  and 
for  the  deeds  of  our  forefathers  in  the 
faith. 

We  find,  however,  when  we  approach 
non-Catholics,  that  they  have  already 
strong  prejudices  concerning  the  Church 
and  her  teachings.  Such  prejudices  are  in- 
evitable.    We  should  not  fear  them  were 

271 


English  Import  Hatred  of  Popery. 

they  not  accompanied  by  an  indisposition 
to  hear  us,  and  a  deep-rooted  aversion  to 
examine  our  claims.  In  order  to  under- 
stand the  nature  of  this  aversion,  we  have 
been  studying  the  history  of  England  in  as 
far  as  it  relates  to  Catholics  during  the  past 
three  hundred  years.  As  the  original  col- 
onies which  formed  this  republic  were 
mainly  of  English  origin,  such  study  was 
necessary.  We  found  that  during  that 
period  Catholicism  was  systematically  mis- 
represented to  the  English  people.  We 
found  that  all  manner  of  slanders  and  cal- 
umny was  circulated  against  us.  We  found 
how  the  Ghosts  had  their  origin,  and  we 
learned  how  thoroughly  their  work  was 
done. 

When  men  change  their  country  they  do 
not  change  their  temper.  The  English  col- 
onists brought  to  these  shores  the  dread 
and  hatred  of  Popery  which  they  had 
learned  at  home.  It  is  now  our  task  in  this, 
the  last  lecture  of  the  series,  to  study  the 
fate  of  the  Ghosts  in  this  country.  To 
accomplish   it   in   anything  like   a   proper 

272 


Colonies  Either  Prelatist  or  Puritan. 

manner  would  require  as  many  lectures 
as  have  been  already  delivered.  I  intend 
now  to  treat  the  subject  lightly  and  briefly. 
It  will  be  the  duty  of  the  Catholic  Truth 
Society  in  future  lectures,  tracts  and  pam- 
phlets to  deal  more  extensively  with  hap- 
penings which  are  of  the  greatest  interest 
to  us  because  they  bear  on  our  character 
as  citizens  and  because  they  explain  the 
nature  and  cause  of  that  prejudice,  to 
counteract  which  the  Catholic  Truth 
Society  has  been  established. 

The  seventeenth  century  saw  the  settle- 
ment of  the  original  thirteen  colonies, 
with  the  exception  of  Georgia.  You  re- 
member that  I  have  described  the  division 
of  English  Protestantism  into  two  great 
parties  or  factions — the  extreme  Protes- 
tants, or  the  Puritans,  and  the  moderate 
Protestants,  or  the  Episcopalians.  Speak- 
ing generally,  the  Puritans  settled  along 
the  Northern  seaboard,  while  the  Estab- 
lished Church  was  planted  in  the  South. 
All  New  England  was  Puritan;  Virginia 
was  strongly  Episcopalian. 

273 


Peculiar  Ideas  of  Religious  Liberty. 


It  would  be  an  unnecessary  and  un- 
grateful task  to  dilate  on  the  intolerance 
of  the  Puritan  and  Cavalier.  The  Puri- 
tans had  been  persecuted  by  the  State 
Church  in  England,  and  they  went  into  the 
wilderness  to  found  a  commonwealth 
where  they  could  enjoy  freedom  of  wor- 
ship. They  speedily  showed,  however,  that 
they  meant  freedom  for  themselves  and  for 
their  own  worship  alone.  Hardly  had  they 
landed,  when  they  exiled  Episcopalians 
who  worshipped  according  to  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.  Not  so  long  afterward 
Roger  Williams  was  banished  because  of 
his  tolerant  sentiments.  Mrs.  Anne 
Hutchinson,  the  mother  of  all  the  New 
England  Women  Righters,  was  declared 
unfit  for  the  society  of  Christians.  The 
unfortunate  Quakers  were  sentenced,  after 
the  first  conviction,  to  lose  one  ear;  after 
a  second  conviction,  to  lose  the  other  ear, 
and  after  the  third  conviction  to  have  the 
tongue  bored  with  a  red-hot  iron.  At 
last,  despairing  of  silencing  them,  the 
Puritans  ordered  them  to  leave  the  colony 

274 


French  Colonists  and  Jesuit  Missions. 

under  penalty  of  death.   Several,  including 
a  woman,  were  hanged. 

Encouraged  by  such  laws  and  such  ex- 
amples it  is  not  surprising  that  Catholics 
gave  New  England  a  wide  berth.  There 
was  none  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  colo- 
nies in  that  part  of  the  world,  and  it  might 
be  supposed  that  the  Ghosts  would  fall 
into  innocuous  desuetude.  But  no.  North 
and  west  of  New  England  were  the 
French;  the  French  were  Catholics,  and 
as  often  as  not  England  was  at  war  with 
France.  Among  the  Indian  tribes  the 
Jesuits  and  other  religious  orders  were  la- 
boring with  a  zeal  which  is  to  this  day  the 
wonder  of  the  world.  They  crossed  des- 
erts, overcame  the  mountains,  paddled  in 
their  birch  canoes  on  unnamed  rivers,  in 
cold  and  hunger  and  nakedness  they 
sought  souls.  They  lived  as  the  Indians 
lived  and  they  died  with  their  converts. 
Some  of  them  returned  to  Europe  and 
showed  scarred  and  mutilated  stumps 
where  hands  had  once  been,  as  their  testi- 
mony to  the  faith.  They  were  men  of  peace, 

275 


Jesuits  Charged  With  Stirring  Up  Indians. 

not  men  of  war.  Yet  when  the  political 
needs  of  the  French  government  stirred 
up  the  Indians  against  the  English,  just  as 
the  political  needs  of  the  English  govern- 
ment stirred  up  the  Indians  against  the 
French,  the  cry  went  up  that  the  Jesuits 
were  at  the  bottom  of  it.  The  cry  was 
false.  The  great  American  historians  of 
Protestant  belief  acknowledge  that  the 
missionaries  always  stood  for  peace  and 
colonial  neutrality.  Rut  the  cry  served  the 
purpose.  The  Puritan  pulpits  resounded 
with  the  old  slogan  against  Rome,  and  the 
young  Americans  who  had  never  seen  a 
Catholic,  or  read  a  Catholic  book,  or 
heard  of  a  Catholic  dogma  were  educated 
in  the  orthodox  belief  of  the  Ghosts.  In 
Old  England  the  Ghost  was  a  Jesuit  be- 
hind the  Gunpowder  Plotters — in  New 
England  the  Ghost  was  a  Jesuit  behind  a 
painted  Indian  with  scalping  knife  and 
tomahawk. 

Virginia  was  the  typical  southern  col- 
ony. It  was  Royalist  to  the  core,  and  the 
Established  Church  of  England  was  also 

276 


Virginia  a  Preserve  for  Anglicans. 

the  Established  Church  of  Virginia.  In 
its  foundation  "the  exclusion  of  Roman 
Catholics  had  been  avowed  as  a  special 
object,  and  the  statutes  of  its  legislature 
as  well  as  the  commands  of  the  sovereign 
aimed  at  a  perpetual  religious  uniform- 
ity." All  the  oaths  and  laws  with  which 
Catholics  were  plagued  in  the  old  country 
obtained  in  the  new.  Catholics,  however, 
were  not  alone.  The  same  measure  of  per- 
secution and  disability  which  the  Puritans 
meted  to  the  Episcopalians  in  Massachu- 
setts, the  Episcopalians  meted  to  the  Puri- 
tans in  Virginia.  The  whole  State  was 
parceled  out  into  parishes,  and  a  tax  on  to- 
bacco levied  for  the  support  of  the  min- 
ister. A  fine  of  the  same  currency  was 
imposed  on  all  who  would  not  attend  the 
Anglican  church  on  Sunday. 

As  the  persecuted  Puritans  had  looked 
to  the  land  beyond  the  sea  as  an  asylum 
from  the  intolerance  of  their  Protestant 
brethren,  so  the  persecuted  Catholics 
sought  a  refuge  from  the  bigotry  of  Puri- 
tan and  Episcopalian   alike.     Sir  George 

277 


Lord  Baltimore  Pioneer  of  Religious  Liberty. 

Calvert  was  raised  in  the  Anglican 
Church,  but  a  study  of  the  grounds  of  the 
Reformation  brought  him  back  to  the  faith 
of  his  fathers.  This  was  in  1617,  a  time 
when  no  worldly  prospects  invited  such  a 
step.  In  accordance  with  the  Penal  Laws, 
he  at  once  resigned  his  political  offices; 
but  James  I.,  who  respected  him  highly, 
elevated  him  to  the  Irish  peerage  under 
the  title  of  Lord  Baltimore.  The  sad  condi- 
tion of  his  coreligionists  in  England  ap- 
pealed to  him,  and  he  cast  about  for  a  plan 
of  relief.  Seeing  no  hope  at  home  he 
turned  his  thoughts  to  America,  and  in 
1622  he  obtained  a  patent  for  Newfound- 
land. There  he  planted  a  colony  and 
called  it  Avalon,  in  memory  of  the  spot 
where  Christianity  had  been  introduced 
into  Britain.  In  this  colony  he  established 
full  religious  toleration,  and  provided 
priests  for  the  Catholics  and  a  preacher  for 
the  Protestants.  But  the  enterprise  did  not 
succeed.  The  preacher  complained  to  the 
home  government  that  Lord  Baltimore  al- 
lowed Mass  to  be  said,  the  climate  was  too 

278 


Charter  for  Colony  of  Maryland. 

inhospitable,  and  the  French  were  hostile. 
The  attempt  was  abandoned.  Lord  Balti- 
more took  as  many  of  the  colonists  as 
would  follow  him  and  sailed  for  Virginia. 
Here,  however,  he  was  refused  hospitality. 
The  authorities  knew  he  was  a  Catholic; 
they  tendered  him  the  Oath  of  Supremacy, 
which  they  knew  he  could  not  take,  and 
thus  the  father  of  religious  toleration  on 
this  continent  was  denied  the  ordinary 
courtesies  of  humanity  from  those  whose 
coreligionists  he  had  treated  as  fairly  as 
the  members  of  the  household  of  his  own 
faith.  Returning  to  England  he  applied 
for  the  country  lying  north  of  the  Potomac, 
as  a  site  for  a  colony.  The  application  was 
granted,  but  before  the  necessary  formali- 
ties were  finished  he  died.  Of  him  Ban- 
croft says : 

Calvert  deserves  to  be  ranked 
among  the  most  wise  and  benevolent 
lawgivers  of  all  ages.  He  was  the 
first  in  the  history  of  the  Christian 
world  to  seek  for  religious  security 
and  peace  by  the  practice  of  justice 

279 


Toleration  in  Practice  From  Beginning. 

and  not  by  the  exercise  of  power;  to 
plan  the  establishment  of  popular  in- 
stitutions, with  the  enjoyment  of  lib- 
erty of  conscience;  to  advance  the 
career  of  civilization  by  recognizing 
the  rightful  equality  of  all  Christian 
sects.  The  asylum  of  Papists  was  the 
spot  where,  in  a  remote  corner  of  the 
world,  on  the  banks  of  rivers  which, 
as  yet,  had  hardly  been  explored,  the 
mild  forbearance  of  a  proprietary 
adopted  religious  freedom  as  the  basis 
of  the  state. 

His  son,  the  second  Lord  Baltimore, 
received  the  charter,  which  was  one  of  the 
most  liberal  ever  issued  by  the  British 
Crown.  The  new  colony  was  to  be  called 
Maryland.  The  Lord  Proprietor  was 
invested  with  all  legislative  and  executive 
power. 

In  1633  two  vessels,  called  the  Ark  and 
the  Dove,  left  England  for  Maryland. 
They  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac, 
March  25,  1634.  Warned  by  his  father's 
troubles  with  the  preacher  in  Newfound- 
land, Lord  Baltimore  informed  the  colo- 

280 


Opposition  From  Bigots  in  Virginia. 

nists  that  he  did  not  intend  to  supply  them 
with  clergymen.  Two  Jesuits  went  with 
the  expedition  as  gentlemen  adventurers 
and  took  their  chances  with  the  others. 
There  were  a  few  Protestants  in  the  com- 
pany, but  no  preacher.  The  vast  majority 
was  Catholic. 

The  foundation  of  a  Catholic  State  so 
close  to  Virginia  roused  the  bigots  of  that 
province.  The  Jesuits  were  on  their  bor- 
ders, and  the  country  was  not  safe. 
Though  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  gave 
every  man  freedom  of  worship,  Virginia 
could  not  profit  by  the  example,  and  in 
1 641  a  special  law  was  passed  which  pro- 
hibited any  Papist  from  holding  office 
under  the  penalty  of  a  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco. 

The  troubles  in  England  between  the 
King  and  the  Parliament  had  their  effects 
in  Maryland.  In  1646  the  colony  was  in- 
vaded from  Virginia  and  the  Jesuits  were 
thrown  into  irons  and  sent  to  London. 
Not  a  priest  was  left  in  the  land.  The 
following  year,   however,   the   Lord   Pro- 

281 


Formal  Toleration  Law  of  1649. 

prietor  re-established  his  authority.  Up 
to  this,  toleration  was  the  practice  of  the 
colony.  The  doings  of  the  Virginians  and 
the  increasing  numbers  of  the  Protestants 
showed  the  Catholics  the  necessity  of  mak- 
ing some  legal  provision  for  themselves. 
They  had  striven  to  do,  rather  than  to  talk. 
They  had  not  uttered  many  high-sounding 
phrases  about  liberty  of  conscience,  but 
they  had  given  liberty  of  conscience.-  The 
persecuted  Puritans  of  Virginia  and  the 
persecuted  Prelatists  from  Massachusetts 
found  at  their  hands  a  welcome  and  equal 
rights.  But  signs  were  not  wanting  that 
bigotry  might  prove  stronger  than  grati- 
tude, and  the  Catholics  determined  to 
place  on  the  statute  book,  as  an  everlast- 
ing memorial,  their  determination  to  up- 
hold toleration.  This  was  the  law  of  1649, 
the  day  star  of  religious  freedom  on  this 
continent,  the  measure  by  which,  in  after 
time,  a  great  nation,  made  up  of  many 
peoples  and  many  faiths,  was  to  solve  a 
question  which  had  filled  Christendom 
with  misery  and  blood. 

282 


Destroyed  Under  William  of  Orange. 

But  the  bigots  were  not  to  be  deterred 
from  their  work  by  legislative  enactments. 
After  the  establishment  of  the  Common- 
wealth, the  Commissioners  therefor  en- 
tered Maryland  and  called  an  assembly 
from  which  all  Catholics  were  excluded. 
The  Protestants  who  sat  in  that  assembly 
were  beneficiaries  of  the  Catholics.  They 
had  been  given  freedom  of  worship  when 
Catholics  were  in  the  majority;  yet  now 
when  they  had  power  they  passed  a  law 
that  "none  who  profess  and  exercise  the 
Popish,  commonly  called  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic, religion  can  be  protected  in  this 
province  by  the  laws  of  England,  but  are 
to  be  restrained  from  the  exercise  thereof/' 

In  England,  however,  Lord  Baltimore, 
the  proprietor,  had  sufficient  influence  to 
have  the  acts  of  the  Commission  set  aside 
and  his  own  authority  re-established.  The 
Toleration  Law  of  1649  therefore  went 
into  force  once  more,  and  Maryland  en- 
joyed religious  liberty  until  the  deposition 
of  James  II.  and  the  accession  of  William 
of  Orange.     As  in  England  this  event  be- 

283 


Persecution  of  Catholics  in  Maryland. 

gan  a  new  period  of  persecution,  so  in 
America  it  marked  the  end  of  toleration. 
Here,  for  the  first  time,  as  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  discover,  we  meet  with  the 
magic  words,  "Protestant  Association. '' 
The  bigots  of  Maryland  banded  themselves 
into  an  association  "for  the  defense  of  the 
Protestant  religion,"  and  in  an  address  to 
King  William  denounced  the  influence  of 
Jesuits,  the  prevalence  of  Popish  idolatry, 
the  connivance  by  the  government  at 
murders  of  Protestants,  and  the  danger 
from  plots  with  the  French  and  Indians. 
William  of  Orange  seized  the  opportu- 
nity thus  offered  him.  Baltimore  was  de- 
prived of  his  rights.  Maryland  was  made 
a  Royal  Colony.  Catholics  were  disfran- 
chised. The  Episcopalian  sect  was  set  up 
as  the  Established  Church  of  Maryland. 
The  colony  was  divided  into  parishes.  All 
the  people  were  taxed  for  the  building 
of  Episcopalian  churches,  which  were 
nearly  always  empty,  and  for  the  support 
of  Episcopalian  preachers,  who  were 
nearly  always  full.     In   1697  a  pestilence 

284 


Persecution  in  Other  Colonies. 

passed  through  the  land.  Then,  as  now, 
the  Catholic  priests  braved  the  terrors  of 
disease  and  death  to  minister  to  the 
stricken.  An  Episcopalian  preacher  de- 
manded that  the  legislature  should  inter- 
fere to  restrain  such  Popish  presumption. 

During  the  eighteenth  century,  new  and 
more  ferocious  laws  were  added.  Burden 
after  burden  was  heaped  upon  the  Catho- 
lics, until,  at  last,  only  twenty-five  years 
before  our  Revolution,  they  were  driven 
in  despair  to  appeal  to  the  British  throne. 
All  this  was  done  in  the  first  asylum  of 
religious  liberty,  done  to  those  who  had 
founded  that  asylum;  done  by  men  who 
boasted  of  their  enlightened  creed  and 
their  freedom  from  the  superstitions  of 
Rome. 

In  the  other  colonies  the  accession  of 
William  of  Orange  was  also  the  signal  for 
the  outbreak  of  persecution.  Of  course 
there  were  no  Catholics  in  New  England 
and  none  in  the  Carolinas  or  Georgia;  but 
in  New  York  the  ancient  Ghosts  held  high 
revelry.     In  1700  an  Act  was  passed  im- 

285 


Especially  Virulent  in  New  York. 

prisoning  or  banishing  all  priests,  dis- 
franchising Catholics  and  sentencing  to 
death  any  priest  who  escaped  from  prison. 
To  harbor  a  priest  was  to  incur  a  fine  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  and  stand  in 
the  pillory  three  days.  The  preamble  to 
this  Act  recited  that,  "Whereas,  divers 
Jesuits,  priests  and  Popish  missionaries 
have  of  late  come,  and  for  some  time  have 
had  their  residence  in  remote  parts  of  the 
province,  who,  by  their  wicked  and  subtle 
insinuations,  industriously  labor  to  de- 
bauch, seduce  and  withdraw  the  Indians 
from  due  obedience  to  His  Most  Sacred 
Majesty,  and  to  excite  and  stir  them  to  se- 
dition, rebellion  and  open  hostility  against 
His  Majesty's  government,  etc."  It  was 
the  same  old  Ghost  that  had  terrified 
England  so  long.  It  was  as  successful  now 
in  terrifying  the  colonists.  In  1741  a  few 
negro  slaves  made  a  sedition  in  New 
York,  and  the  rumors  flew  fast  that  a  con- 
spiracy was  on  foot  to  massacre  the  whites 
and  burn  the  city.  An  unfortunate  Episco- 
palian clergyman  was  accused  of  being  a 

286 


The  Foundation  of  Pennsylvania. 

Jesuit  in  disguise,  was  arrested,  tried,  con- 
victed and  hanged.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
he  was  what  he  claimed  to  be — a  Protes- 
tant preacher — but  such  was  the  popular 
excitement  that  the  jury  took  only  fifteen 
minutes  to  find  him  guilty  of  being  a 
Catholic. 

In  this  dreary  waste  of  intolerance  there 
was  one  place  where  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants found  peace.  In  1682  William  Penn 
had  founded  the  Colony  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  belonged  to  the  Quaker  community. 
Those  inoffensive  people  had  suffered  se- 
verely from  Puritan  and  Prelatist  alike. 
Penn  built  this  new  State  on  the  founda- 
tions of  religious  liberty,  and  it  is  the 
glory  of  the  Quakers  that  while  to  the 
north  and  to  the  south  of  them  bigotry 
reigned  unchecked,  within  their  borders 
men's  consciences  were  free.  It  is  true 
there  were  ill-disposed  men  in  Pennsylva- 
nia who  complained  to  the  home  govern- 
ment of  the  tolerance  of  the  colony,  but 
Penn's  influence  was  strong  enough  to  set 
them   at   nought.     The    protection   which 

287 


The  Treaty  of  Paris  and  the  Quebec  Act. 

-Lord  Baltimore's  colonists  had  given  to 
the  Quaker  exiles  from  Massachusetts  and 
Virginia  was  nobly  repaid  by  the  Quakers 
of  Pennsylvania. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  in  1763,  France 
surrendered  Canada  to  the  British 
Crown.  It  was  stipulated  that  the  people 
should  enjoy  the  use  of  the  French  Ian- 
guage  and  French  laws  and  that  their  re- 
ligion should  not  be  molested.  Now,  west 
of  the  English  colonies  and  between  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  was  a  vast  stretch 
of  country  known  then  as  the  Northwest 
Territory,  and  now  occupied  by  the  States 
of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and 
Wisconsin.  All  this  land  was  claimed  by 
the  older  States  under  their  charters. 
When  those  charters  were  given  no  one 
had  any  idea  of  the  width  of  the  continent, 
and  the  grants  usually  ran  from  ocean  to 
ocean.  In  accordance  with  the  Treaty  of 
Paris  the  English  Parliament  enacted  a 
law  in  1774  known  as  the  Quebec  Act.  By 
that  Act  the  privileges  of  the  Canadians 
were  established  and  the  Northwest  Terri- 

288 


First  American  Congress  Protests. 

tory  was  placed  under  the  government  of 
Quebec.  The  Act  raised  a  storm  both  in 
England  and  in  the  Colonies.  Already 
the  troubles  with  the  government  were 
beginning,  and  the  First  American  Con- 
gress had  convened  in  Philadelphia. 
Among  the  grievances  of  the  Colonies  the 
Quebec  Act  was  set  forth,  and  in  an  ad- 
dress to  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  Sep- 
tember, 1774,  the  representatives  said: 
"We  think  that  the  legislature  of  Great 
Britain  is  not  authorized  by  the  Constitu- 
tion to  establish  a  religion  fraught  with 
sanguinary  and  impious  tenets,  and  to 
erect  an  arbitrary  form  of  government  in 
any  quarter  of  the  globe.  By  this  the  Do- 
minion of  Canada  is  extended,  modeled 
and  governed,  as  that,  being  disunited 
from  us,  detached  from  our  interests  by 
civil  as  well  as  religious  prejudices,  that 
by  their  numbers  are  daily  swelling  with 
Catholic  emigrants  from  Europe,  they 
might  become  formidable  to  us,  and  on 
occasion  be  fit  instruments  in  the  hands  of 
power  to  reduce  the  ancient  free  Protes- 

289 


War  With  England  Destroys  Bigotry. 

tant  colonies  to  the  same  state  of  slavery 
with  themselves."  The  author  of  the  ad- 
dress was  John  Jay,  a  lawyer,  with  whom 
anti-Catholicism  was  a  mania.  A  similar 
address  was  sent  to  the  colonies,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  the  growing  struggle  for  in- 
dependence were  to  be  disgraced  by  big- 
otry. But  God  ruled  otherwise.  The  time 
had  come  when  the  designs  of  Lord  Balti- 
more were  to  find  fruition,  and  the  mus- 
tard seed  planted  by  Catholic  hands  and 
watered  by  Catholic  tears  was  to  grow 
into  a  mighty  tree,  offering  shelter  to  the 
persecuted  of  every  land. 

Events  rapidly  drove  the  colonists  to  a 
complete  break  with  England.  "If  we 
do  not  hang  together,"  said  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, "we  shall  all  hang  separately."  The 
common  cause,  the  common  enthusiasm, 
broke  down  the  barriers  of  religious  intol- 
erance. Catholics  and  Protestants  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  against  English  tyr- 
anny, and  between  men  who  stand 
shoulder    to    shoulder    for    freedom,    no 

290 


Influence  of  Irish  in  Revolution. 

Ghosts  can  come.  The  topic  of  religious 
liberty  soon  became  a  common  subject  of 
discussion.  Many  of  the  States  caught 
the  new  spirit,  and  their  Constitutions, 
adopted  after  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, removed  former  restrictions  on 
Catholics  and  admitted  them  to  citizenship. 
The  kindly  feeling  toward  Catholics 
was  intensified  by  the  aid  received  from 
Catholic  sources  during  the  war.  In  1776 
the  House  of  Lords  appointed  a  committee 
to  inquire  into  the  American  War.  Jo- 
seph Galloway,  an  officer  in  high  com- 
mand on  the  Royalist  side,  testified  that 
one-half  the  troops  in  the  service  of  Con- 
gress were  natives  of  Ireland,  one-fourth 
natives  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  one- 
fourth  natives  of  America.  Before  the 
same  committee,  Major-General  Robert- 
son stated  that  he  had  been  informed  by 
General  Lee  that  half  the  rebel  army  came 
from  Ireland.  Of  course  I  do  not  claim 
that  all  the  Irish  were  Catholics.  Still, 
making  all  the  allowances  necessary,  the 
number  of  Catholics  must  have  been  very 

291 


Influence  of  Catholic  Nations. 

large.  Archbishop  Carroll  was  able  to 
say  in  a  public  letter  concerning  his  co- 
religionists: "Their  blood  flowed  as 
freely,  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  to 
cement  the  fabric  of  independence  as  that 
of  any  of  their  fellow-citizens.  They  con- 
curred with  perhaps  greater  unanimity 
than  any  other  body  of  men,  in  recom- 
mending and  promoting  that  government 
from  whose  influence  America  anticipates 
all  the  blessings  of  justice,  peace,  plenty, 
good  order,  civil  and  religious  liberty." 
The  early  struggles  of  America  were 
aided  by  two  Catholic  countries,  France 
and  Spain.  Catholic  officers  came  from 
Ireland,  France  and  Poland,  and  offered 
their  swords  on  the  altar  of  liberty.  The 
first  diplomatic  circle  was  made  up  of  rep- 
resentatives from  Catholic  powers,  and  on 
great  national  occasions  solemn  Church 
services,  attended  by  the  ambassadors,  the 
Federal  authorities,  and  high  military  of- 
ficers familiarized  the  people  with  the 
Catholic  liturgy.  French  fleets  and 
French  regiments  brought  chaplains  with 

292 


Benedict  Arnold  on  No  Popery. 

them,  and  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts 
learned  with  surprise  that  priests  did  not 
wear  horns,  and  the  Prelatists  of  Virginia 
were  disabused  of  their  solemn  conviction 
that  Jesuits  had  cloven  hoofs  and  forked 
tails.  The  Tories,  or  the  friends  of  Eng- 
land, used  this  toleration  of  Catholics  as 
an  argument  against  the  popular  move- 
ment. In  1780,  the  traitor,  Benedict  Ar- 
nold, issued  a  proclamation  to  the  Conti- 
nental Army,  in  which  he  strove  to  raise 
the  no-Popery  Ghost: 

Should  the  parent  nation  cease  her 
exertions  to  deliver  you,  what  security 
remains  to  you  for  the  enjoyment  of 
the  consolations  of  that  religion  for 
which  your  fathers  braved  the  ocean, 
the  heathen  and  the  wilderness?  Do 
you  know  that  the  eye  that  guides  this 
pen  lately  saw  your  mean  and  profli- 
gate Congress  at  Mass  for  the  soul  of 
a  Roman  Catholic  in  Purgatory,  and 
participating  in  the  rites  of  a  Church, 
against  whose  anti-Christian  corrup- 
tion your  pious  ancestors  would  have 
witnessed  with  their  blood? 

293 


The  Commission  to  French  Canada. 


It  was  too  late  then  to  stir  hatred  be- 
tween men  who  had  tried  their  friendship 
on  the  battlefield.     In   another  direction, 
however,    the    English    government    was 
more  successful.    You  will  remember  that 
in  1773  Canada  was  ceded  by  France  to 
the  British  Crown.     In   1774  the  Quebec 
Act   guaranteed    the    Canadians    their   re- 
ligious privileges.     This  concession  called 
forth  the  wrath  of  the  bigots,  and  the  ad- 
dress written  by  John  Jay  spoke  harshly  of 
the   Canadians  and  their  faith.     In   1776 
the  Congress,  seeing  that  the  struggle  was 
to  be  one  of  life  or  death,  strove  to  enlist 
the    Canadians    in    the    American    cause. 
Three   Commissioners   were   appointed  to 
proceed    to    Canada — Benjamin    Franklin, 
Samuel  Chase  and  Charles  Carroll  of  Car- 
rollton.      Congress    invited    Father    John 
Carroll,  the  Jesuit,  to  join  them.     When 
they  arrived  in   Canada  they  found  that 
bigotry  had  blocked  their  way.    The  Eng- 
lish government  had  taken  Jay's  address, 
translated   it  into   French,    and   spread   it 
broadcast.    This,  they  said,  represents  the 

294 


Failed  Because  of  Bigoted  Protest. 


true  spirit  of  the  Colonies — if  you  join 
them  they  will  turn  on  you  and  extirpate 
your  religion  as  they  did  in  Maryland. 
The  circular  did  its  work.  The  Canadians 
were  suspicious  of  the  Commissioners. 
The  intolerance  of  John  Jay  destroyed  all 
hope  in  Canada  of  a  union  with  the  Colo- 
nies. That  the  Dominion  is  not  to-day  an 
integral  part  of  the  United  States  is  due 
to  the  narrowness  and  intolerance  of  those 
who,  in  the  supreme  hour  of  a  nation's 
struggle,  could  not  refrain  from  the  watch- 
words of  bigotry. 

Still  the  spirit  of  liberty  was  so  strong 
among  the  Canadians  that,  though  their 
leaders  stood  suspiciously  aloof,  individuals 
flocked  to  the  American  army.  Two  regi- 
ments, known  as  Congress  Own,  were 
made  up  of  the  French  Canadian  volun- 
teers. They  had  a  Catholic  chaplain,  duly 
commissioned  by  Congress.  The  Catholic 
Indians  from  Maine,  the  Catholic  Penob- 
scots,  all  converts  of  French  or  Canadian 
priests,  joined  the  cause  of  the  Colonies. 
All  the  Catholic  cler<nr  m  the  boundaries 


to.T 


2^ 


Charles  Carroll  on  Toleration. 

of  the  thirteen  original  States  were  on  the 
side  of  liberty.  In  1778  England  at- 
tempted to  form  a  Catholic  regiment,  and 
appointed  Father  Farmer  of  Philadelphia 
chaplain.  The  Catholics  were  not  forth- 
coming, the  priest  refused  to  lend  the  in- 
fluence of  his  name  and  office,  and  the 
Catholic    regiment    never    materialized. 

Indeed,  the  Catholics  looked  to  the 
great  national  struggle  as  their  only  hope 
for  toleration.  Charles  Carroll  of  Car- 
rollton,  who,  by  his  signature  to  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  pledged  his  for- 
tune to  the  cause,  wrote  at  the  end  of  his 
long  life  concerning  the  motives  which 
then  animated  him: 

When  I  signed  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  I  had  in  view  not  only 
our  independence  of  England,  but  the 
toleration  of  all  sects  professing  the 
Christian  religion,  and  communicat- 
ing to  them  all  equal  rights.  Happily 
this  wise  and  salutary  measure  has 
taken  place  for  eradicating  religious 
feuds  and  persecution,  and  become  a 
useful  lesson  to  all  governments.     Re- 

296 


Religious  Liberty  in  Constitution. 

fleeting,  as  you  must,  on  the  disabili- 
ties, I  may  truly  say  on  the  proscrip- 
tion, of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Mary- 
land, you  will  not  be  surprised  that  I 
had  much  at  heart  this  grand  design 
founded  on  mutual  charity,  the  basis 
of  our  holy  religion. 

When  the  time  came  to  establish  the 
Constitution  under  which  we  now  live, 
John  Carroll  was  awake  to  the  necessity 
of  securing  to  Catholics  their  rights  under 
the  Federal  Government.  He  drew  up  a 
memorial  to  Congress  on  the  subject,  and 
Washington  used  his  influence  to  further 
the  plan.  The  differences  in  religion  be- 
tween the  various  States,  and  their  mutual 
jealousies,  contributed  not  a  little  to  se- 
cure the  clause  which  provides  that  "no 
religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a 
qualification  for  any  office  or  public  trust 
under  the  United  States,"  as  well  as  the 
First  Amendment,  to  the  effect  that  "Con- 
gress shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  es- 
tablishment of  religion  or  prohibiting  the 
free  exercise  thereof." 

297 


Spread  of  Toleration  in  States. 

When  the  Constitution  was  submitted  to 
the  States  the  absence  of  a  test  was  com- 
mented on  in  several  quarters;  but  the 
growing  spirit  of  liberality  overruled  these 
objections.  Little  by  little  the  various 
States  erased  intolerant  provisions  from 
their  own  Constitutions.  In  New  York  a 
test  oath  excluded  Catholics  from  office 
up  to  1806.  In  Connecticut  and  Massa- 
chusetts, Protestantism  was  the  established 
religion,  and  taxes  were  levied  for  its 
support  in  Connecticut  up  to  18 16,  and  in 
Massachusetts  up  to  1836.  In  North  Car- 
olina only  those  who  were  willing  to  swear 
to  the  truth  of  Protestantism  could  hold 
office  until  1836;  a  similar  provision  ob- 
tained in  New  Jersey  until  1844,  and  it 
is  but  twenty  years  since  New  Hampshire 
was  sufficiently  penetrated  with  the  Amer- 
ican spirit  to  allow  Catholics  to  aspire  to 
public  office. 

Speaking  generally,  however,  the  Rev- 
olution left  the  Church  free.  She  could 
now  gather  her  children  into  congregations 
and  speak  to   them  without  fear.     True, 

298 


Catholic  Address  to  Washington. 

they  were  few  and  scattered.  Bishop  Car- 
roll put  their  number  at  25,000.  The  total 
population  was  about  3,000,000.  But  few 
as  they  were,  they  had  great  hopes.  The 
Church  once  more  was  at  liberty  to  fulfill 
her  mission  to  teach  the  peoples.  The  win- 
ter was  past,  the  rain  was  over  and  gone; 
the  flowers  appeared  on  the  earth,  the  time 
of  pruning  was  come,  and  the  voice  of  the 
turtle  was  heard  in  the  land.  When  Wash- 
ington was  elected  President,  the  Catho- 
lics presented  him  with  an  address  in 
which  they  said: 

This  prospect  of  national  prosper- 
ity is  peculiarly  pleasing  to  us  on 
another  account,  because,  whilst  our 
country  preserves  her  freedom  and  in- 
dependence, we  shall  have  a  well- 
founded  title  to  claim  from  her  jus- 
tice, the  equal  rights  of  citizenship, 
as  the  price  of  our  blood  spilt  under 
"vour  eves,  and  of  our  common  exer- 
tions  for  her  defense,  under  your 
auspicious  conduct — rights  rendered 
more  dear  to  us  by  the  remembrance 
of  former  hardships.     When  we  pray 

299 


Washington's  Acknowledgment  of  Address. 

for  the  preservation  of  them,  where 
they  have  been  granted — and  expect 
the  full  extension  of  them  from  the 
justice  of  those  States  which  still 
restrict  them — when  we  solicit  the 
protection  of  heaven  over  our  com- 
mon country,  we  neither  omit,  nor  can 
omit,  recommending  your  preserva- 
tion to  the  singular  care  of  Divine 
Providence. 

To  this  Washington  replied: 

As  mankind  becomes  more  liberal, 
they  will  be  more  apt  to  allow  that  all 
those  who  conduct  themselves  as 
worthy  members  of  the  community 
are  equally  entitled  to  the  protection 
of  the  civil  government.  I  hope  ever 
to  see  America  among  the  foremost 
nations  in  examples  of  justice  and  lib- 
erality. And  I  presume  that  your 
fellow  citizens  will  not  forget  the 
patriotic  part  which  you  took  in  the 
accomplishment  of  their  Revolution 
and  the  establishment  of  your  gov- 
ernment; or  the  important  assistance 
which  they  received  from  a  nation  in 
which  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  is 
professed. 

300 


The  Increase  of  Catholic  Immigration. 

During  the  closing  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  the  first  thirty 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  we  hear 
very  little  about  the  Ghosts.  The  nation 
was  too  busy.  She  had  extended  her  out- 
posts to  the  Mississippi.  Within  a  period 
of  nine  years,  from  1812  to  1821,  seven 
States  had  been  admitted  to  the  Union. 

Up  to  1820  there  was  practically  no 
influx  from  over  the  water,  but  the  dis- 
tress which  followed  the  close  of  the  Na- 
poleonic wars  sent  thousands  to  America 
to  seek  new  homes.  Among  the  new- 
comers Catholics  were  numerous.  Cath- 
olic churches  and  convents  sprang  up  in 
places  where  Catholics,  within  the  mem- 
ory of  many,  had  been  under  severe  dis- 
abilities. The  vast  majority  of  those  Cath- 
olics were  Irish,  and  the  prejudice  against 
their  faith  was  strengthened  by  the  preju- 
dice against  their  race.  Said  the  Bishop 
of  Charleston: 

England  has,  unfortunately,  too 
well  succeeded  in  linking  contumely 
to  the  Irish  name  in  all  her  colonies; 

301 


Irish  Catholics  Slandered  by  English. 

and  though  the  United  States  have 
cast  away  the  yoke  under  which  she 
held  them,  many  other  causes  have 
combined  to  continue  against  the 
Irish  Catholics,  more  or  less,  to  the 
present  day  the  sneer  of  the  super- 
cilious, the  contempt  of  the  conceited, 
and  the  dull  prosing  of  those  who 
imagine  themselves  wise.  That 
which  more  than  a  century  of  fashion 
has  made  habitual  is  not  to  be  over- 
come in  a  year;  and  to  any  Irish 
Catholic  who  has  dwelt  in  this  coun- 
try during  one-fourth  of  the  period 
of  my  sojourn  it  will  be  painfully 
evident  that,  although  the  evil  is 
slowly  diminishing  its  influence  is  not 
confined  to  the  American  or  to  the 
anti-Catholic.  When  a  race  is  once 
degraded,  no  matter  how  unjustly, 
it  is  a  weakness  of  our  nature  that, 
however  we  may  be  identified  with 
them  upon  some  points,  we  are  desir- 
ous of  showing  that  the  similitude  is 
not  complete.  You  may  be  an  Irish- 
man, but  not  a  Catholic;  you  may  be 
a  Catholic,  but  not  Irish.  It  is  clear 
you  are  not  an  Irish  Catholic  in 
either  case.     But  when  the  great  ma- 

302 


The  Orangemen  Take  Up  No  Popery  Cry. 

jority  of  Catholics  in  the  United 
States  were  either  Irish  or  of  Irish 
descent,  the  force  of  the  prejudice 
against  the  Irish  Catholic  bore 
against  the  Catholic  religion,  and  the 
influence  of  this  prejudice  has  been 
far  more  mischievous  than  is  gener- 
ally believed. — Bishop  England's 
Works,  vol.  Hi,  p.  523- 

The  increase  in  immigration  between 
1820  and  1830  naturally  stirred  up  the 
anti-foreign  feeling  which  appears  to  be 
common  to  all  races  of  men.  This  feeling 
took  an  anti-Catholic  direction  through 
the  circumstances  of  the  times.  Catholic 
emancipation,  which  was  conceded  by  the 
British  Parliament  in  1829,  had  been  pre- 
ceded by  a  long  and  bitter  controversy. 
All  the  opponents  of  toleration  had  re- 
vived the  old  Ghosts  to  frighten  the  Brit- 
ish public,  and  Catholics  were  painted  in 
the  blackest  colors.  All  this  controversy 
found  an  echo  in  America.  The  Orange- 
men who  had  been  formed  to  maintain  the 
Protestant  ascendancy,  in  immigrating 
here  brought  their  lodges  with  them.  The 

303 


Mobs  in  Boston  and  New  York. 

toleration  which  had  marked  so  many  of 
the  Protestant  preachers  at  the  Revolution 
gave  way  to  an  insane  dread  of  Popery. 
Catholics,  and  Irish  Catholics  at  that, 
were  spreading  their  religion  everywhere2 
and  did  not  show  the  slightest  desire  to 
accept  Martin  Luther  and  the  blessed 
Reformation. 

As  early  as  1829  the  houses  of  Catholics 
on  Broad  street,  Boston,  had  been  attacked 
by  a  mob ;  but  beyond  breaking  a  few  win- 
dows no  damage  was  done.  In  1831  St. 
Mary's  Church,  in  Sheriff  street,  New 
York,  was  attacked  and  burned  by  incen- 
diaries. In  the  same  year  the  Orangemen 
had  taken  the  name  of  the  American  Prot- 
estant Association  and  were  actively  en- 
gaged in  publishing  and  propagating  all 
manner  of  calumnies  against  the  Church. 
They  found  a  receptive  soil.  The  most 
extraordinary  and  improbable  tales  were 
believed,  and  the  days  of  Titus  Oates 
appeared  to  have  come  again. 

As  New  England  had  been  the  most 
Protestant  of  all  the  Colonies,  the  agitation 

304 


Burning  of  Charleston  Convent. 

came  to  a  head  there  soonest.  An  Ursu- 
line  Convent  had  been  established  at 
Charlestown,  and  the  Sisters  soon  had  a 
flourishing  school.  Their  success  excited 
the  ire  of  the  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  a  Con- 
gregationalist  clergyman,  and  many  and 
bitter  were  the  sermons  he  preached 
against  the  Church.  The  vilest  accusations 
were  made  against  the  Sisters — and  be- 
lieved. In  1834  one  °f  me  inmates,  in  a 
fit  of  delirium  brought  on  by  overstudy, 
left  the  institution  and  went  to  a  neigh- 
bor's house.  A  medical  examination 
showed  that  she  was  deranged,  but  after 
some  time  she  was  induced  to  return  to  the 
convent.  Immediately  rumors  were  spread 
that  she  was  detained  in  the  institution 
against  her  will.  The  preachers  delivered 
inflammatory  sermons — Beecher  preached 
as  many  as  three  sermons  on  one  Sunday 
on  the  iniquities  of  the  Catholics  and 
convents.  Meetings  were  held,  and  a 
brave  mob  set  forth  in  the  darkness  of  the 
night  to  attack  a  few  defenseless  women 
and  children.    The  doors  were  broken  in, 

305 


Puritans  Protect  the  Marauders. 

and  the  Sisters  and  their  pupils  driven 
forth  from  their  home.  Barrels  of  liquor 
were  brought  to  excite  the  piety  and  pa- 
triotism of  the  mob.  They  ransacked  the 
house,  smashed  the  furniture,  made  a  great 
heap  of  everything  combustible  in  the 
rooms,  set  fire  to  it,  and  with  shouts  of 
exultation  cast  into  the  blaze,  as  a  peace 
offering  to  the  devil  they  worshipped,  a 
Catholic  Bible.  They  did  not  desist  from 
their  work  until  the  convent  was  burned 
to  the  ground,  and  then  they  turned  to  the 
graves  of  the  dead,  wrested  the  plates  from 
the  coffins,  and  left  the  mouldering 
remains  of  their  tenants  exposed  to  view. 
The  perpetrators  of  the  outrage  were 
known,  and  a  prosecution  was  begun 
against  them,  but  the  State  let  the  matter 
2,0  bv  default.  No  witnesses  were  called, 
and  the  scoundrels  were  declared  not 
guilty.  The  Massachusetts  Legislature  re- 
fused to  give  compensation  to  those  who 
had  trusted  to  the  State  for  protection,  and 
for  many  a  long  day  the  blackened  walls 
of   the   Charlestown    Convent   stood    as    a 

306 


The  Imposture  of  Maria  Monk. 

monument  to  the  malice  of  bigotry,  to  the 
intolerance  of  the  preachers,  to  the  power 
of  the  Ghosts  and  to  the  cowardice  and 
hypocrisy  of  the  Puritan  politicians  who 
looked  on  with  folded  arms  while  the  dam- 
age was  doing,  who  bewailed  it  with  croc- 
odile tears  when  it  was  accomplished,  and 
who,  afraid  of  their  enlightened  constit- 
uents, refused  to  vote  that  compensation  to 
which  by  the  laws  of  God  and  man  the 
injured  were  entitled. 

Two  years  afterwards  there  appeared 
in  New  York  one  of  the  most  successful 
impostures  ever  planned.  A  common 
woman  named  Maria  Monk,  and  a  disso- 
lute preacher,  the  Rev.  J.  J.  Slocum,  con- 
cocted a  book  entitled  "Awful  Disclosures 
of  Maria  Monk."  She  had  been  sent  by 
her  mother  to  the  Magdalen  Asylum  in 
Montreal,  but  she  had  escaped  therefrom 
and  returned  to  her  life  of  shame.  The 
book  purported  to  be  an  account  of  the 
life  of  the  Sisters  in  the  famous  hospital 
in  Montreal  known  as  the  Hotel  Dieu, 
and    charged    the   nuns   with    immorality, 

307 


Denounced  by  Committee  of  Protestants. 

harshness,  cruelty  and  murder.  The  book 
was  published  by  the  Harpers  in  1836,  and 
had  an  immense  sale.  The  preachers  had 
been  continuously  pitching  into  Popery  for 
six  years  and  more,  and  this  was  a  godsend. 
It  was  read  more  widely,  perhaps,  than 
any  book  ever  before  published  in  Amer- 
ica, and  thousands  took  it  as  Gospel.  A 
committee  of  Protestants  went  to  Montreal, 
book  in  hand,  and  examined  the  Hotel 
Dieu,  and  the  description  of  that  building 
given  by  Maria  Monk  showed  she  had 
never  seen  it.  William  L.  Stone,  editor  of 
the  Commercial  Advertiser,  and  a  man 
strongly  prejudiced  against  Catholics,  also 
visited  Montreal,  explored  the  Hotel  Dieu 
from  garret  to  cellar,  and  published  his 
opinion  on  the  book. 

The  result  is  the  most  thorough 
conviction  that  Maria  Monk  is  an 
arrant  impostor — that  she  nevei  was 
a  nun,  and  never  was  within  the  walls 
of  the  Hotel  Dieu — and  consequently 
that  her  disclosures  are  wholly  and 
unequivocally,  from  beginning  to  end, 
untrue — either  the  vagaries  of  a  dis- 

308 


But  Believed  Implicitly  by  Rank  and  File. 

tempered  brain,  or  a  series  of  calum- 
nies, unequalled  in  the  depravity  of 
their  invention  and  unsurpassed  in 
their  enormity.  There  are  those,  I 
am  well  aware,  who  will  not  adopt 
this  conclusion,  though  one  should 
arise  from  the  dead  and  attest  it — 
even  though  Noah,  Daniel  and  Job 
were  to  speak  from  the  slumber  of 
ages  and  confirm  it. 

Maria  Monk's  book  was  thoroughly  re- 
futed, but  the  fanatics  clung  to  it  still. 
Maria  Monk's  mother  made  solemn  oath 
that  the  abandoned  preacher,  her  daugh- 
ter's paramour,  had  attempted  to  bribe  her 
to  support  the  imposture;  but  what  was 
her  oath  against  a  spicy  story  about  priests 
and  nuns?  The  conspirators  themselves 
quarreled  over  the  spoils,  and  more  than 
one  of  them  admitted  the  falsehood  of  the 
whole  book.  It  was  shown  that  the  awful 
disclosures  were  copied,  word  for  word, 
from  an  anti-Popery  tract  published  in 
1781,  entitled  'The  Gates  of  Hell  Opened, 
or  a  Development  of  the  Secrets  of  Nun- 
neries," but  still  the  disclosures  were  de- 

309 


The  Period  of  the  Microbe  of  Bigotry. 

voured.  Even  to  this  day  Maria  Monk's 
book  is  sold  on  your  bookstalls,  and  was 
recommended  during  the  A.  P.  A.  agita- 
tion as  suitable  reading  for  devout  and 
patriotic  Protestants.  Such  is  the  vitality 
of  a  lie,  such  the  credulity  of  intolerance. 

The  microbe  of  bigotry  has  a  period, 
like  the  microbe  of  yellow  fever  or  chol- 
era. From  1830  to  the  Civil  War,  every 
ten  years  saw  an  outbreak  of  fanaticism. 
In  1834  we  nac*  the  burning  of  the 
Charlestown  convent;  in  1844  we  had  the 
native  American  riots;  in  1854  we  had 
the  Know-Nothing  riots.  As  yet,  we  have 
considered  only  the  ancient  Ghosts,  which 
flourished  in  England,  and  which  were 
imported  here.  In  the  forties  we  meet 
with  a  new  Ghost,  which  had  its  origin 
on  this  continent,  and  which  is  in  very 
truth  Our  Own  Ghost. 

The  school  system  of  this  country  is  not 
the  work  of  one  man,  of  one  time  or  of  one 
State.  It  is  a  gradual  growth,  and  differs 
in  character  and  efficiency  from  State  to 
State,   from   county   to   county,   and   from 

310 


The  Rise  of  the  Public  School  System. 

town  to  town.  Originally,  as  started  in 
Massachusetts,  it  was  what  we  call  now  a 
parochial  school  system.  Religion  was  in- 
culcated, and  as  the  colony  of  Massachu- 
setts was  Protestant  that  religion  was 
Protestantism.  In  a  community  where  all 
think  alike  in  matters  of  faith  a  public 
school  system  may  very  well  be  a  religious 
system;  but  in  a  community  where  there 
are  various  religions  it  is  manifestly  not 
fair  to  tax  the  adherents  of  one  creed  in 
order  that  another  creed  may  be  taught 
their  children.  It  is  certainly  not  right 
to  make  Catholics  pay  for  the  teaching 
of  Protestantism,  and  it  would  be  a  mon- 
strous thing  to  take  the  children  of 
Protestant  parents  and  raise  them  Cath- 
olics. 

Before  the  great  immigration  began 
this  country  was  overwhelmingly  Protes- 
tant. The  school  system,  such  as  it  was, 
was  dominated  by  Protestantism.  When 
the  children  of  the  Catholic  immigrants 
began  to  frequent  the  schools  they  were 
compelled    to    read    the    Protestant    Bible 

311 


Originally  Protestant  Schools. 

and  to  read  Protestant  prayers.  Such  a 
violation  of  the  rights  of  conscience  was 
not  to  be  endured  without  a  protest.  The 
Catholic  parents  protested,  but  their  pro- 
tests were  in  vain.  As  late  as  1859,  in 
Eliot  School,  Boston,  a  Catholic  boy  was 
ordered  to  repeat  the  Ten  Commandments 
in  the  Protestant  form.  He  refused,  and 
was  flogged  by  the  teacher  on  both  hands 
for  thirty  minutes,  the  brute  declaring 
that  he  would  whip  the  child  until  he  con- 
sented. A  suit  for  assault  and  battery  fol- 
lowed, but  the  judge  held  that  the  teacher 
was  within  his  rights  in  attempting  to 
hammer  Popery  out  of  the  poor  little  boy. 
The  schools  of  Philadelphia  were  mod- 
eled on  the  same  plan  as  the  schools  of 
Massachusetts.  The  Protestant  Bible  was 
read  to  the  children,  and  naturally  the 
Catholic  parents  complained  of  this  as  an 
abridgment  of  the  rights  of  conscience. 
In  1844,  Bishop  Kenrick  petitioned  the 
School  Board  to  allow  the  Catholic  chil- 
dren to  use  the  Catholic  Bible.  He  did 
not  ask  that  the   Protestant   Bible  be  ex- 

312 


Anti-Catholic  Riots  in  Philadelphia. 

eluded;  he  simply  asked  that  the  Cath- 
olics be  permitted  to  adopt  the  version 
which  their  Church  sanctioned. 

The  petition  was  misrepresented,  and 
misrepresented  designedly.  The  cry  went 
forth  that  the  Catholics  wanted  to  drive 
the  Bible  from  the  schools.  The  preachers, 
as  usual,  took  up  the  cry,  and  the  Ghosts  of 
the  Little  Red  Schoolhouse  and  of  Rome's 
Red  Hand  scared  the  sober  Quakers.  The 
Orangemen  of  Philadelphia — all  foreign- 
ers— were  the  backbone  of  the  Native 
American  Party.  They  got  up  a  great 
meeting  to  denounce  the  Pope,  and  they 
also  took  care  to  get  up  a  riot.  This 
has  always  been  a  familiar  trick  of  no- 
Popery  mobs.  We  have  had  some  speci- 
mens of  it  in  this  city,  and  we  know  the 
dexterity  with  which  they  can  create  a 
disturbance  among  their  own  "plug- 
uglies"  and  then  saddle  the  blame  on  the 
Papists.  In  Philadelphia  this  trick  was 
tried  with  success.  The  mob  began  an 
attack  on  the  houses  occupied  by  Catho- 
lics.     Naturally    the    Catholics    defended 

3i3 


Churches  and  Convents  Burned. 

their  property,  and  some  of  the  rioters 
were  justly  killed.  Next  the  cry  was,  "To 
the  nunnery!"  A  rush  was  made  for 
the  house  occupied  by  the  Sisters  of  Char- 
ity; but  a  volley  from  a  few  defenders 
drove  the  scoundrelly  cowards  off.  Bishop 
Kenrick  then  published  a  card  to  his  peo- 
ple urging  his  flock  to  keep  the  peace. 
This  was  the  worst  thing  he  could  have 
done,  because  it  emboldened  the  rioters, 
who  were  assured  of  the  connivance  of  the 
civil  authorities  and  who  feared  nothing 
but  to  face  men.  The  next  day  the  rioters 
began  again.  St.  Michael's  Church  and 
the  priest's  residence  were  set  on  fire;  then 
St.  Augustine's  Church  was  burned.  In 
the  afternoon  the  home  of  the  Sisters, 
who  in  the  days  of  the  cholera  had  at- 
tended Protestant  and  Catholic  alike,  was 
given  to  the  flames. 

All  this  happened  in  May,  1844,  in 
Philadelphia.  A  similar  campaign  had 
been  fought  out  in  New  York  with  a  dif- 
ferent captain,  and  a  far  different  ending. 
There  was  a  school  law  in  force  in  the 

3H 


John  Hughes  and  the  New  York  Schools. 

State  of  New  York  since   the  beginning 
of  the  century,   but  it  had   not  been   ex- 
tended to  the  city.  From  1812  the  private 
schools   received   a  portion  of   the   school 
fund,  and  of  course  the  Catholic  schools 
among  others.    A  private  society,  however, 
known  as  the  Public  School  Society,  had 
been  growing  up,  and  had  gradually  ab- 
sorbed all  the  school  funds.     This  society 
was  a  Protestant  society,  and  its  text  books 
were    so    grossly    offensive    that    Catholic 
children  could  not  conscientiously  attend 
the  schools.     In   1840  the  Catholics  peti- 
tioned for  a  return  to  the  old  system.     Of 
course,   at  once   the   oreachers  were   alert 
to    oppose    any    concession    to    fair    play. 
After  an  exciting  debate  before  the  Com- 
mon Council,  in  which  John  Hughes,  the 
Bishop  of  New  York,  set  forth  the  Cath- 
olic claims,  the  petition  was  rejected.    The 
Catholics,  however,  carried  the  matter  be- 
fore the  legislature.     The   Public   School 
Society    was    abolished    and    the    neutral 
State    system    was    extended    to    the    city. 
This  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  New  York 

315 


Advises  Catholics  to  Defend  Their  Homes. 

when  the  riots  happened  in  Philadelphia. 
The  Native  American  Party  had  elected 
as  Mayor  one  of  the  Harpers,  the  pub- 
lishers of  Maria  Monk's  book.  It  was 
planned  to  get  up  a  great  meeting  to  wel- 
come delegates  from  the  Philadelphia 
rioters,  and  then,  under  the  usual  pretext, 
start  a  row  and  attack  the  Catholic 
churches.  When  the  Catholics  came  to 
Bishop  Hughes  for  advice  he  asked  a  law- 
yer, "Does  the  law  of  New  York  provide 
compensation  for  damage  done  by  rioters?" 
The  lawyer  replied  that  it  did  not. 
"Then,"  he  said,  "the  law  intends  that  citi- 
zens should  defend  their  own  property." 
An  issue  of  the  Catholic  paper  appeared 
immediately,  containing  a  proclamation  to 
Catholics: 

If,  as  it  has  already  appeared  in 
Philadelphia,  it  should  be  a  part  of 
Native  Americanism  to  attack  the 
houses  and  churches  of  Catholics,  then 
it  behooves  Catholics,  in  case  all  other 
protection  fail,  to  defend  both  with 
their  lives.  In  this  they  will  not  be 
acting  against,  but  for  the  law.     In 

316 


The  Rise  of  the  Know  Nothing  Party. 


no  case  let  them  suffer  an  outrage  on 
their  property  without  repelling  the 
aggression  at  all  hazards. 

The  warning  was  sufficient.  The  Na- 
tive Americans  knew  their  man.  John 
Hughes  would  stand  no  nonsense.  The 
meeting  was  never  held.  The  delegates 
from  the  Philadelphia  thugs  never  ap- 
peared. There  were  no  riots  -in  New 
York. 

The  next  agitation  against  the  Church 
began  in  the  fifties.  In  1852  a  secret, 
oath-bound  association  was  founded, 
which  spread  over  the  country  like  wild- 
fire. When  questioned  as  to  its  nature, 
its  members  answered,  "I  don't  know," 
hence  their  popular  and  appropriate  title 
of  Know  Nothings.  It  purported  to  be  a 
nativistic  movement,  but  it  was  in  reality 
the  old  American  Protestant  Association, 
receiving  its  impetus  from  imported  pa- 
triots. As  usual,  its  cause  was  championed 
by  the  preachers,  and  by  a  number  of  ex- 
priests  who  had  been  exiled,  because  of 
political   troubles  in   Italy,  such   as  Guis- 

3l7 


Usual  Results  of  Arson  and  Murder. 

tiniani  and  Gavazzi,  companions  of  the 
infamous  Achilli,  whom  Newman  at  this 
time  was  flaying  in  Birmingham.  A  fa- 
natic who  called  himself  the  Angel  Ga- 
briel added  to  the  turmoil.  He  began  in 
the  streets  of  Boston,  holding  forth  against 
popes,  priests,  nuns  and  Catholics  gener- 
ally. Arson  and  murder  followed  his  foot- 
steps. In  May,  1854,  the  mob  attacked 
the  Catholics  at  Chelsea,  and  burned  a 
church.  In  June  a  Catholic  church  was 
burned  at  Coburg.  In  July  another  was 
blown  up  with  gunpowder  at  Dorchester, 
on  the  fourth,  and  on  the  fifth  the  church 
of  Bath  was  destroyed;  the  priest,  Father 
Bapst,  was  tarred  and  feathered,  and  re- 
ceived such  injuries  that  he  never  recov- 
ered. In  the  same  year  the  Know  Noth- 
ings were  successful  at  the  election  in 
Massachusetts,  and  a  bill  was  passed 
through  the  legislature  in  1855  providing 
for  the  inspection  of  convents.  The  legis- 
lative blackguards  who  went  to  perform 
the  work  in  one  convent  behaved  so  shame- 
fully that  public  opinion  was  aroused,  and 

318 


Massacre  of  Catholics  in  Louisville. 

the  act  was  repealed.  In  the  same  year 
desperate  noting  occurred  in  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  where  the  Know  Nothings  at- 
tempted to  prevent  Catholics  from  going 
to  the  polls.  Nearly  a  hundred  Catholics 
were  shot  down,  and  over  twenty  houses 
were  burned.  Louisville  never  recovered 
from  that  Bloody  Monday,  as  it  was 
called.  The  current  of  immigration 
passed  it  by  and  it  was  left  to  Know 
Nothingism  and  stagnation. 

The  end  of  the  anti-Catholic  agitation 
was  at  hand.  The  great  struggle  between 
the  North  and  South  was  looming  up. 
In  1856  the  party  was  swept  out  of  exist- 
ence in  the  North.  It  lingered  in  the 
South,  but  greater  issues  killed  it  there, 
too.  The  cry  of  unpatriotism  made 
against  the  Catholics  and  the  Irish  was 
drowned  in  their  answer  to  Lincoln's  call 
for  volunteers,  and  in  the  tramp  of  their 
regiments  marching  to  the  front.  The  war 
brought  Catholics  and  Protestants  close 
together,  as  they  had  been  brought  close 
together    in    the   days    of    the    Revolution 

319 


The  Ghosts  Laid  for  a  Time  by  Civil  War. 


and  Our  Own  Ghost  was  laid  in  blood. 
It  was  only  when  the  memory  of  that  con- 
flict was  dying  out  and  a  new  generation 
had  grown  to  manhood  that  the  Ghosts 
again  walked  abroad.  By  the  time  of  the 
great  Columbus  celebrations  of  1892  the 
twenty  years  term  of  the  microbe  of  bigotry 
had  been  completed  and  the  clamor  of  the 
A.  P.  A.  filled  the  land.  The  history  of 
that  movement  is  too  familiar  to  the  Ameri- 
can people  to  need  recounting.  Like  the 
Know-Nothing  Ghost  of  the  fifties  it  too 
was  laid  by  war. 


320 


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